An international arrest warrant was issued today for Omar al-Bashir, the President of Sudan, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, despite fears of a violent backlash that could disrupt the African country’s fragile peace process. After eight months of consideration, the three judges decided not to press charges of genocide sought by the prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo. Nevertheless it was a bold move by the International Criminal Court, marking the first time since the world’s first permanent court for prosecuting war crimes was founded in 2002 that it has ordered the arrest of a sitting head of state. The prosecutor had asked for arrest warrants on ten charges, including genocide, murder, torture, extermination and rape.
In all, the judges issued a warrant today on seven counts: five of crimes against humanity – murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture and rape; two of war crimes – intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population or individual civilians, and pillaging.
The judges decided by 2-1 to reject the genocide accusation because they felt that the evidence did not support the prosecution suggestion that four specific ethnic groups were targeted by Mr al-Bashir. If further evidence came forward, the genocide charge could still be made, a court spokeswoman said.
“He is suspected of being criminally responsible … for intentionally directing attacks against an important part of the civilian population of Darfur, murdering, exterminating, raping, torturing and forcibly transferring large numbers of civilians and pillaging their property,” Laurence Blairon said.
She said that Mr al-Bashir’s position as head of state gave him no immunity from the charges.
Asked why the genocide charge did not stick, Ms Blairon added: “Genocide in the popular language amounts to mass murder but in law it has a very specific definition. In order to speak about genocide, you need to have a clear intent that a person wishes to destroy in part or as a whole a specific group, and in this particular case the pre-trial chamber has not been able to find there were reasonable grounds to establish a genocidal intent. So that is why the count of genocide has not been reached by the judges.”
Mr Moreno-Ocampo said that he could appeal to the judges over their rejection of genocide charges.
“Omar al-Bashir’s destiny is to face justice. In two months or in two years, he will face justice,” he said. “What is happening in Darfur is that 2.5 million people are dying slowly in the camps … 5,000 are dying each month. It is time to protect the victims, it is time to stop bombing civilians, it is time to stop the rapes, it is time to stop the crimes.”
He urged Sudan to arrest Mr al-Bashir and, failing that, called upon any other state to apprehend him. “As soon as Mr al-Bashir travels in international airspace his plane could be intercepted and he could be arrested. That is what I expect.”
The ICC warrant ranks Mr al-Bashir alongside the former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and the former Liberian leader Charles Taylor, the other heads of state indicted for war crimes while in office by international tribunals.
Both were eventually forced from power and ended up on trial in The Hague, where Mr Taylor is preparing his defence case and Milosevic died of a heart attack in 2006 before the process concluded.
There is no “trial in absentia” for the ICC but it remains unclear when – or if – Mr al-Bashir will follow them into the dock. The Sudanese authorities refuse to recognise the court, the ICC has no police force to arrest him and the United Nations peacekeeping force in Sudan will not try to enact the warrant in fear of violent reprisals and eviction from the country.
So although there will be no immediate arrest after today’s announcement, the issuing of the warrant is expected to put enormous pressure on the Sudanese regime and fellow African leaders to resolve the country’s problems.
Mr al-Bashir, who seized power almost 20 years ago in a military coup, seems in no mood to turn himself in, telling a huge rally yesterday that the court could swallow its indictment for all he cared. “They will issue their decision tomorrow and we are telling them to eat it,” he said, using an Arabic insult intended to show extreme disrespect.
The ruling party announced that it planned a “million-man march” of protest in Khartoum tomorrow while yesterday his supporters burned an effigy of Mr Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor.
Mr Moreno-Ocampo said yesterday that dozens of witnesses would testify that Mr al-Bashir controlled a genocidal campaign aimed at wiping out three ethnic African tribes.
“We have strong evidence against Mr Bashir,” he said. “More than 30 witnesses will [testify] how he managed to control everything and we have strong evidence of his intention.”
About 25 Darfuris gathered outside the court today in the build-up to the announcement and chanted “al-Bashir, justice now” and “Justice, justice for Darfur.” Similar gatherings were planned in London, Rome and Brussels.
A top UN official said that peacekeepers were prepared for a violent reaction if any warrants were issued. “I am sure there will be some crowd movements. There will be some violence,” the UN peacekeeping chief, Alain Le Roy, said.
Ahmed Mohamedain, of the Dutch-based Darfur Union, said he hoped that a warrant would lead to peace in the region. “I do not think the situation will get better until al-Bashir is arrested,” he said.
Asked if the court was concerned about the potentially damaging impact that the warrant could have on the Sudanese peace process, Ms Blairon added: “The findings of the judges are made on purely legal criteria. This is really important – the court is not a political institution. It speaks the language of the law.”
The war in Darfur began in 2003 when rebel ethnic African groups, complaining of discrimination and neglect, took up arms against the Arab-dominated Government in Khartoum. United Nations officials say that up to 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million have fled their homes.
In 2005 the UN Security Council asked Mr Moreno-Ocampo to investigate crimes in the western Darfur region.
Sudan and its allies in the African Union and the Arab League have lobbied the Security Council to postpone the case by a year so that UN and AU efforts to end the six-year conflict could continue.
The United States, France and Britain opposed a delay, while Russia and China, which has strong economic ties with Sudan, would probably have supported one.
“Certainly, the council is still divided on this issue,” said Libya’s acting UN Ambassador, Ibrahim Dabbashi, the current council president, yesterday. “There is nothing scheduled by the council as an immediate reaction to the decision of the ICC.”
source.timesonlineuk
