The big news today — The prosecutor at the International Criminal Court will seek an arrest warrant against Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir for committing genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes against the people of Darfur. Bashir is the first sitting head of state to be charged by the ICC.
Learn more. Watch CNN Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson’s exclusive interview with ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.
The following media release discusses a joint statement signed by a number of human rights advocacy organizations from across the world, including Americans Against the Darfur Genocide.
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The International Criminal Court prosecutor’s application for an arrest warrant against Omar Hassan Al-Bashir could be a major step towards combating impunity associated with the horrific crimes in Darfur, according to several human rights groups from around the world.
Today’s move comes after three years of investigation by the prosecutor and his team. In accordance with ICC procedure, the evidence gathered has been submitted to judges in the Pre-Trial Chamber who will then decide whether to issue arrest warrants on the basis of that information.
A spokesperson for the group said, “Until today, Sudan has failed to initiate genuine proceedings within Sudan to investigate or prosecute crimes in Darfur. Such impunity contributes to the cycles of violence that have plagued Sudan for decades. Those responsible for the atrocities in Darfur must be held accountable.”
Under the Rome Statute of the ICC, the court is empowered to prosecute “the most serious” cases of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide when states are unwilling or unable genuinely to do so. The prosecutor has indicated that he will only pursue individuals who bear most responsibility for the crimes. The Rome Statute provides that no one is immune from the crimes under the Court’s jurisdiction.
Sudan’s Leader Is Accused of Genocide
By Marlise Simons, Lydia Polgreen, Jeffrey Gettleman
July 15, 2008
PARIS — The prosecutor at the International Criminal Court formally requested an arrest warrant on Monday for Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the last five years of bloodshed in the Darfur region of his country.
The prosecutor’s pursuit of Mr. Bashir introduced new volatility to the already chaotic situation in Darfur. While some diplomats and analysts worried that the move would undermine efforts to negotiate peace and provide aid to the millions displaced by violence, others said it offered new leverage to pressure the Sudanese government to end the conflict in Darfur.
Bracing for reprisals, United Nations peacekeepers and aid workers stepped up security in Darfur and pulled out all but the most essential civilians. Sudan promised not to vent its outrage on them, but said it would unleash a “diplomatic war” to try to scuttle the case.
It is the first time the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has brought genocide charges against anyone. It is also the first time the prosecutor has brought charges against a sitting head of state since the court opened its doors in 2002. Two other presidents, Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia and Charles Taylor of Liberia, were charged by other international war crimes courts, also while they were in office.
Darfur has been a shifting, many-sided conflict, with rebels fighting rebels, government-backed Arab militias killing civilians and one another, freelance bandits attacking aid workers and atrocities committed by all the armed groups.
In announcing the request, the prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said Mr. Bashir had “masterminded and implemented” a plan to destroy three main ethnic groups in Darfur, the Fur, the Masalit and the Zaghawa. Using government soldiers and Arab militias, the president “purposefully targeted civilians” belonging to these groups, killing 35,000 people “outright” in attacks on towns and villages.
“His motives were largely political,” the prosecutor said. “His alibi was a ‘counterinsurgency.’ His intent was genocide.”
CAPTION: Women and children sat near tents marking the spots where homes once stood in Sirba, another village that was attacked. Aid workers, diplomats and analysts say the return of such attacks is an ominous sign that the fighting in Darfur is entering a new and deadly phase (Photo: Lynsey Addario for The New York Times).
Djibril Bassolé, Burkina Faso’s Foreign Minister, was recently appointed as the new UN-AU Chief Mediator for Darfur. Needless to say, he has an immensely difficult task ahead of him. He must try to drive forward a peace process that has so far failed the people of Darfur.
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Since the conflict began in early 2003, we have among us made 10 research trips to the war zone. In our travels, we have found only one group of people who have consistently articulated workable solutions to the challenges facing Darfur: the internally displaced and refugee populations. The voice of the Darfurian diaspora is also emerging. The people of Darfur have strong views about what issues need to be addressed, and how. However, Darfurians have been conspicuously absent from peace efforts, helping explain why we have seen such limited progress. You will only succeed in your endeavors if you listen to them, and it is their voices that will ultimately make any peace process sustainable.
On July 8, 2008, at approximately 2:45pm local time, heavily armed Janjaweed militia attacked a joint police and military patrol of the UN/African Union Mission in Sudan (UNAMID) in an area approximately 100 kilometers southeast of el-Fasher, near the village of Umm Hakibah (North Darfur). In a firefight that lasted approximately three hours, seven UNAMID troops and police were killed and twenty-two were injured, seven of these critically. Ten vehicles were destroyed or taken during the attack. Although there was initial uncertainty about the identity of the attacking force, this uncertainty has been eliminated in the course of a preliminary investigation. In addition to various published reports, UN Undersecretary for Peacekeeping, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, offered a compelling July 11, 2008 briefing to the UN Security Council in closed session, making a number of telling observations that point unambiguously to Janjaweed forces as those responsible:
[1] Guéhenno told the Security Council that the attack on UN-authorized peacekeepers “took place in an area under Sudanese government control and that some of the assailants were dressed in clothing similar to Sudanese army uniforms. He also said the ambush was ‘pre-meditated and well-organized’ and was intended to inflict casualties rather than to steal equipment or vehicles” (Voice of America [dateline: UN/New York], July 11, 2008). The peacekeepers attacked reported seeing approximately 200 fighters, many on horses—a signature feature of the Janjaweed (Arabic for “devil [or spirit] on horseback”).
[2] Agence France Presse reports: “Guehenno was quoted as saying that the ambush was designed ‘to inflict casualties and was carried out with ‘equipment usually not used by (rebel) militias” ([dateline: UN/New York], July 11, 2008). Separately and confidentially, a UN official went further in confirming to this writer that some of the arms used, including large-caliber recoilless rifles, have never been seen in the arsenals of the rebel groups. This official said that Guéhenno, who is retiring, had rarely been so explicit in assigning responsibility for attacks in Darfur.
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Sudan Leader To Be Charged With Genocide
Peace Efforts in Darfur Could Be Hampered, Some U.N. Officials Fear
By Colum Lynch and Nora Boustany
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, July 11, 2008; A01
UNITED NATIONS, July 10 — The chief prosecutor of the Internationals Criminal Court will seek an arrest warrant Monday for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, charging him with genocide and crimes against humanity in the orchestration of a campaign of violence that led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians in the nation’s Darfur region during the past five years, according to U.N. officials and diplomats.
The action by the prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo of Argentina, will mark the first time that the tribunal in The Hague charges a sitting head of state with such crimes, and represents a major step by the court to implicate the highest levels of the Sudanese government for the atrocities in Darfur.
The deadline for this action is Midnight EST today.
If you have twenty minutes or so today, please consider sending a Darfur-related video question to the NAACP for its 2008 Presidential Forum with Senators Barack Obama and John McCain. Feel free to craft your own personal angle with your video. You might ask the presidential candidates to outline their concrete step-by-step plan to bring peace and security to Darfur. Or ask them about more specific issues, such as the need to impose targeted multilateral sanctions against the Government of Sudan’s senior leaders, and the need for the U.S. to support the expansion of the ICC’s open case on Darfur.
An inspiring story. Former Sudanese refugee Lopez Lomong will represent the U.S. next month at the Beijing Olympics. He has been speaking out recently for the people of Darfur:
“Lomong, 23, is a member of Team Darfur, a global coalition of athletes using the focus on the Beijing Olympics to urge China to exert its influence on the Sudanese government to alleviate the suffering in the country’s Darfur region. Sudan uses income from oil sold to China to buy arms, some of which are used by militias that have inflicted terror on Darfur.”
“I need to send the message as an athlete from Sudan,” Lomong said. “I am worried about the kids who are dying in Darfur, kids who don’t have the dream they could be good athletes or Olympians or doctors, because they will be running away from their village, separated from their families.”
