US Official: Darfur genocide trials should be in Africa
By GEORGE GEDDA, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON, Feb 25, 2005 (AP) — With no letup in Sudan’s Darfur crisis, a top Bush administration official squared off with critics Friday about the proper venue for putting on trial those responsible for grave abuses committed in that region.
Pierre Prosper, U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes, said a “hybrid” court should be impaneled by the United Nations and the African Union to try people arrested for the violence in Darfur that the U.S. considers genocide.
That court could then evolve into a permanent all-Africa tribunal capable of dealing with war crimes throughout the continent, Prosper said. It would be built on the U.N. criminal court in Tanzania that was set up to try perpetrators of the Rwanda genocide 10 years ago.
Tens of thousands have died in Darfur, an arid region of western Sudan , and some 2 million people have been driven from their homes.
Many European countries believe any trial should be the U.N. International Criminal Court.
Prosper said the ICC is already overextended, with existing commitments in Congo, Rwanda, Central African Republic and Ivory Coast.
The tribunal would “burst at the seams” if it took on Darfur as well, Prosper said, speaking at a panel discussion on Darfur at the Brookings Institution.
The Bush administration has long opposed the International Criminal Court, arguing that it could be used for frivolous or politically motivated prosecution of American troops.
The 97 countries that have ratified the 1998 Rome Treaty counter that the founding documents for the court contain enough safeguards to prevent any such prosecutions.
Elisa Massimino, of the Washington-based advocacy group Human Rights First, suggested that the real reason the administration opposes an ICC role for Darfur is “the risk that it might be proven wrong about the ICC.”
Massimino credited the U.S., however, with having done more to alleviate the suffering in Darfur than any other country. Prosper said U.S. assistance to Darfur has totaled $567 million since the conflict erupted two years ago.
He noted that the U.N. Security Council has authorized 10,000 troops for Sudan to monitor compliance with a January agreement to end Sudan ‘s North-South conflict. Some might deploy in Darfur as well.
Jemera Rone, Sudan researcher for Human Rights Watch, told the gathering at Brookings that the ICC is a far more defensible venue to try the Darfur criminal elements than the Tanzania-based tribunal.
“The ICC is ready,” she said. She also noted that, unlike the Tanzania tribunal, the ICC does not have an end date. She said it would take a year for the court suggested by the administration to get down to business.
John Pendergast, of the International Crisis Group, which monitors global hot spots, said diplomatic efforts to end the Darfur crisis are “in tatters.”
He recommended the appointment of a high-level envoy to perform the same role that former U.S. Sen. John Danforth did in helping to bring about an end to Sudan ‘s North-South war this year.
At the U.S. State Department, spokesman Richard Boucher said the administration is strengthening its diplomatic presence in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, and is establishing a diplomatic office in southern Sudan for the first time.