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Darfur: recent reports and analysis

26 May 2007

Please find below reports and analysis related to the International Criminal Court's (ICC) investigation in Darfur, Sudan. 

This digest includes information on the following:

*       status of Darfur peace talks and role of the African Union
*       Louise Arbour confronts Sudanese government
*       a new UN human rights probe of the situation in Darfur
*       an upcoming training for Sudanese lawyers sponsored by the American Bar Association
*       an attempt by the Sudanese lawyers union to end the ICC investigation in Darfur
*       a call for the establishment of a regional African criminal court
*       an opinion piece arguing that the showdown between the West and China in Darfur is a struggle for hegemony in Africa

Please take note of the Coalition's policy on situations before the ICC(below), which explicitly states that the CICC will NOT take a position on potential or pending situations before the Court. The Coalition, however, will continue to provide the most up-to-date information about the ICC.

Regards,

Anaga Dalal
CICC Head of Information and Communications
[email protected]

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I.                Status of peace talks, the role of the African Union

a. "Sudan Pushes for Darfur Peace Talks, ceasefire-envoy," 24 May 2007 (Michelle Nichols, Reuters), http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSN24439066._CH_.2400

"...'We want to sit today with the non-signatories in any place, whether it's South Sudan, in Addis Abba, in Eritrea or in Libya," [ said Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem,] Khartoum's ambassador to the United Nations. "We want without any delay for there groups to unite or at least to come to the negotiating tables.'

The United Nations and the African Union are organizing peace talks. But it is expected to be months before an initial dialogue is underway, much less an agreement, thus bolstering calls for a robust peacekeeping force in the interim."

b. 'France wants to bring China, US in talks on Darfur',  21 May 2007 (AFP), ttp://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070521/wl_afp/francesudandarfur_070521164636

"France's new Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner is seeking to bring China, the United States and other countries together for talks on the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region, an aid organisation said Monday. Kouchner, who was appointed on Friday, wants to set up a contact group of nations concerned by the violence in Darfur that the United Nations says has left 200,000 dead and two million displaced since 2003. 'The goal for the coming weeks is to set up a contact group in which there would not only be Americans, British, Germans, Canadians, Chinese and Russians but also the neighbouring countries, including Eritrea and Egypt,' said Jacky Mamou, president of the Urgence Darfour non-governmental organisation."

c. "African leaders urged to pressurise Sudan to allow hybrid force in Darfur," 25 May 2007 (The Statesman), http://www.thestatesmanonline.com/pages/news_detail.php?newsid=3583§ion=1

"A civil society activist has sent a passionate appeal to African Governments to put more pressure on Sudanese leader al -Bashir to immediately permit the deployment of the proposed hybrid peace-keeping force composed of United Nations and African Union troops in Darfur to broker peace.

'The only way out is the international force because the AU alone cannot solve the conflict,' says Osman Adam Abdelmilia, director of Serry for Social Development in an interview with The Statesman in Accra Monday."

d. "AU must reform to perform," 25 May 25, 2007 (The Statesman), http://www.thestatesmanonline.com/pages/news_detail.php?newsid=3578§ion=1

"Darfur activists are calling for the African Union to take seriously the situation in southern Sudan, by according the 'genocide' the attention it deserves at the fast-approaching AU summit.

They are also calling for a serious overhaul of the continental body, to enable it to better deal with a situation it has so far failed.

The summit, which begins in Accra on July 1 and which will be chaired by Ghana's president John Agyekum Kufuor, the current Chair, is expected to have a one-item agenda, concentrating on the shape and direction of the African Union. Delegates will discuss different models for organisation, including the European Union and the idea of a United States of Africa."

II.                   Louise Arbour Confronts Sudanese Government

"U.N. rights office accuses Sudan of Darfur attacks," 18 May 2007 (Reuters), AlertNet.org/Reuters <http://wfm-igp.net:81/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/gTrohvveffrSdTCibGlkIFNv>

"Sudan should open an investigation into attacks on Darfur villages that left more than 100 people dead at the hands of security forces, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour urged in a report released Friday. In the period of January through March, the report said, 'witnesses described heavily armed attackers, many of whom were identified as Border Intelligence personnel.'"  


III.                  New UN Human Rights Probe of Darfur

"UN Rights Experts Begin Darfur Probe," 23 May 2007 (AFP as reprinted in Mail & Guardian), http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/&articleid=309316 <http://wfm-igp.net:81/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/gTrohvveffrSemCibGlkdmhi>

"A group of United Nations human rights experts on Wednesday began examining the situation in the strife-torn Sudanese region of Darfur, under the terms of a resolution passed by the UN Human Rights Council, a UN source said.

The group of seven independent experts is due to meet Sudanese government representatives on Thursday in order to 'identify concrete measures to help improve the human rights situation in Darfur,' the source added.

The group, led by Simi Samar, the UN special rapporteur on Sudan, will report on the situation on the ground and press for the implementation of resolutions by the council and other UN human rights bodies.

It was set up by the 47-member Human Rights Council in March following a report by Nobel laureate and anti-landmines campaigner Jody Williams, which sharply criticised Sudan's role in human rights abuses in Darfur....[the new group will] present its conclusions to the next session of the Human Rights Council, which will meet in Geneva from June 11 to 18."

IV.     American Bar Association sponsors training of Sudanese lawyers

"SUDANESE LAWYERS TO RECEIVE TRAINING TO ASSIST DARFUR VICTIMS", 23 May 2007 (US Fed News/ VOA NEWS), http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/2007-05-23-voa4.cfm

"Early next month, 13 Sudanese attorneys will participate in a program to help them represent victims of the genocide in Darfur in front of international tribunals. The training session in London is being sponsored by the litigation section of the American Bar Association (ABA). It will provide advocacy skills similar to those needed at the International Criminal Court in the Hague (ICC), which is currently pursuing arrest warrants for two Sudanese government officials cited for their alleged involvement in grave atrocities in Darfur. San Francisco attorney Jerry Roth, a bar association faculty member, explains how the lawyers were selected for the project. 'They've been selected by Salih Mahmoud Osman, a former human rights advocate in the Sudan and currently a member of the legislature...The hope is also that the training of these lawyers will help victims of Darfur, not only in front of the ICC, but in front of any international or frankly, Sudanese court, where ultimately, any proceedings might be brought,' he said."

V.       Sudanese Lawyer's Union tries to block ICC Investigation

"'Sudan: Lawyers Union attempts to block trial at The Hague," 18 May 2007 (Sudanese Media Centre)

 "The Sudanese Lawyers Union initiated extensive contacts regarding the International Criminal Court's (ICC) accusations against Ahmad Harun, minister of state for humanitarian affairs, and Ali Kushayb to abort the principle of international prosecution. Fathi Khalil, head of the Lawyers Union, said that the union had started legal internal and external consultations, pointing out the existence of contacts with American legal representatives to compile a legal opinion for the union's position."

VI.     Call for the creation of a regional criminal court for Africa

"Lessons on the Pan African Parliament's mission to Darfur," 23 May 2007 (FOROYAA Newspaper/ Africa News), http://allafrica.com/stories/200705230439.html

"The [Pan African Parliament] mission also conveyed the need for institutional development to address the emerging issues from conflict .For example, during discussions with UN International Enquiry members on Darfur issues of war crimes , genocide and crimes against humanity were raised. The International Criminal Court is extending its operations to handle cases pertaining to war crimes , genocide and crimes against humanity. Article 4H of the AU's Constitutive Act safeguards 'the right of the Union to intervene in member states pursuant to a decision of the assembly in respect of grave circumstances, namely war crimes , genocide and crimes against humanity.' The question then arose: What will the Union do to address the cases of those who are suspected to have perpetrated war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity after intervening in a country? This question merits legal and institutional responses of a continental dimension .If Africa is to attain primacy in handling its conflicts it must develop instruments and institutions that can address all conflict manifestations and ramifications. Herein lies the need for the establishment of an African Criminal Court to address the issues of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. To avoid the proliferation of institutions for their own sake the AU may consider the enlargement of the mandate of The African Court on Human and Peoples Rights to incorporate the powers of a special criminal court to handle cases of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity."

VII. Opinion: International intervention in Africa a struggle for hegemony on the continent

"A question of actus reus," 17 May 2007 (Al-Ahram Weekly), http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/845/re63.htm

"Actus reus , or the guilty act, is a serious charge when it comes to murder, rape and wanton destruction on a massive scale. The regional and international interventions in the Darfur crisis have only added to the heat of the molten lava building up in this African volcano."

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CICC'S POLICY ON THE REFERRAL AND PROSECUTION OF SITUATIONS BEFORE THE ICC:

The Coalition for the ICC is not an organ of the Court. The CICC is an
independent NGO movement dedicated to the establishment of the
International Criminal Court as a fair, effective, and independent
international organization. The Coalition will continue to provide the most up-to-date information about the ICC and to help coordinate global action to effectively implement the Rome Statute of the ICC. The Coalition will also endeavor to respond to basic queries and to raise awareness about the ICC's trigger mechanisms and procedures, as they develop. The Coalition as a whole, and its secretariat, do not endorse or promote specific investigations or prosecutions or take a position on situations before the ICC. However, individual CICC members may endorse referrals, provide legal and other support
on investigations, or develop partnerships with local and other organizations in the course of their efforts.

Communications to the ICC can be sent to:
ICC P.O. Box 19519
2500 CM The Hague
The Netherlands