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Summary: Sudanese president is charged with 10 charges of war crimes
[14 July, 2008] - The international criminal court (ICC) today filed 10 charges of war crimes against Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, for allegedly masterminding a campaign of murder, rape and mass deportation in Darfur. Evidence presented by prosecutors showed Bashir "masterminded and implemented a plan to destroy in substantial part" three tribal groups in Darfur because of their ethnicity, ICC said in a statement. The court's prosecutor for Darfur, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, will now ask a panel of ICC judges to issue an arrest warrant for the Sudanese president, who has repeatedly refused to recognise the court's jurisdiction, a process which could take some months. The ICC statement said Bashir faced three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of murder. More than 200,000 people have been killed and nearly 2.5 million have been made homeless since a revolt broke out in Darfur, a vast, mainly arid province in western Sudan, 2003. Bashir's regime is accused of deliberately organising Arab Janjaweed militias to attack Darfur's black African civilian population, something it denies. The ICC statement of charges says Bashir's policy amounted to genocide because those forced into refugee camps had suffered both regular attacks from militias and a deliberate policy of persecution and hunger. "Bashir organised the destitution, insecurity and harassment of the survivors. He did not need bullets. He used other weapons: rapes, hunger, and fear. As efficient, but silent," Moreno-Ocampo said in the ICC statement. Bashir was directly responsible, the prosecutor added: "[He] is the president. He is the commander-in-chief. Those are not just formal words. He used the whole state apparatus, he used the army, he enrolled the militia/Janjaweed. They all report to him, they all obey him. His control is absolute." Even if the ICC judges issue a warrant for his arrest, it is very unlikely that the Sudanese leader will stand trail in The Hague in the immediate future. While human rights groups have welcomed the prospect of Bashir's arrest being sought, there are fears any such move could cause a backlash in Sudan. The president's supporters have promised an angry response to war crimes charges, prompting western embassies in Khartoum to instruct staff against unnecessary travel in the coming days. Speaking before he unveiled the charges, Moreno-Ocampo said he was not swayed by the possibility that the ICC's decision could prompt a violent reaction against refugees in camps in Darfur and international peacekeepers inside Sudan. "The genocide is ongoing," he told the Associated Press. "Seventy-year-old women, six-year-old girls are raped," he said: "massive rapes, gang-rapes, rapes in front of the parents." Drawing a direct comparison with the policies of Nazi Germany, the prosecutor said the international community needed to take stronger action. "These 2.5 million people are in camps. They [Bashir's forces] don't need gas chambers because the desert will kill them," he said. "The international community failed in the past, failed to stop Rwanda genocide, failed to stop Balkans crimes. So this time the new thing is there is a court, an independent court ... who is saying 'this is a genocide."' Bashir's ruling National Congress party yesterday warned of "more violence and blood" in Darfur if an arrest warrant were issued, state TV reported. Hundreds of people demonstrated in support of the president outside a cabinet meeting called by Bashir to discuss a response, waving signs condemning the ICC and Moreno-Ocampo. There are fears the case could prompt moves to expel the 9,000-strong UN-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur, which said today it had restricted some operations involving civilian staff for safety reasons. Last year, Moreno-Ocampo issued arrest warrants against a However, the minister, Ahmad Muhammad Harun, remains in the government, in charge of humanitarian aid in Darfur. This is the first time the ICC, a permanent court to deal with war crimes, has levied war crimes charges against a head of state. In the past, specific war crimes tribunals have been convened to charge Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic and Charles Taylor of Liberia. Further Information:
Sudanese government minister and a commander of the government-backed Janjaweed militia over 51 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, rape and forced expulsions.
pdf: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/14/sudan.warcrimes1