South Sudan leaders should be taken to ICC over war atrocities: al-Bashir
November 15, 2017 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir Wednesday said leaders of South Sudan should be brought to trial before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for atrocities committed during the civil war.
South Sudan, which separated from Sudan after a referendum on self-determination in 2011, plunged into civil war in December 2013.Thousands of civilians were killed and over millions have been displaced.
Speaking before student crowd in Khartoum on Monday, al-Bashir said: “there is nothing in the world like the ongoing death, destruction, displacement and identity-based killing in South Sudan and it is worth bringing the South leaders before the ICC”.
He accused the Western countries of colluding to separate South Sudan, saying they “should have taken all South Sudan leaders, not us, to the ICC”.
The ICC issued two arrest warrants against al-Bashir in 2009 and 2010 for alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed in Darfur.
He is the first sitting head of state charged by the Hague-based court since its inception in 2002.
DARFUR REFERENDUM
Meanwhile, al-Bashir praised the role of the students during the administrative referendum in Darfur.
In April 2016, an administrative referendum was held for the creation of a Darfur Region composed of the States of Darfur; or the retention of the status quo of States system.
The move comes in fulfilment of one of the requirements of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) of July 2011.
The referendum results indicated that 97.73 % of the voters have called for keeping the current five states, while 2.28% of the voters called for one region in Darfur.
Al-Bashir said the students managed to abort plans which aimed to further disintegrate Sudan, saying they well understood that creation of a different administrative system in Darfur would have led to the inevitable separation of the region from Sudan.
“History indicates the secession of South Sudan has begun by adopting a regional system of governance that has been developed into a self-rule which was then followed by the separation,” he said.
Darfur was a single region until 1994, when it was divided into three states, with a further two added in 2012.
The Sudanese army has been fighting a group of armed movements in Darfur since 2003.
UN agencies estimate that over 300,000 people were killed in Darfur conflict since 2003, and over 2.5 million were displaced.
(ST)