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Darfur (Part II): Blogs and I-based Publications on Prosecutor's

07 Mar 2007

Dear All,

Following last weeks request by the ICC Prosecutor for summonses for Ahmad
Muhammad Harun and Ali Muhammad Ali Abdal-Rahman, please find below a digest
(Part II) of coverage by blogs and I-based publications.

Many thanks to CICC Communications Intern Corina Murafa for compiling these
digests.

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.

Warm Regards,
Esti Tambay
Information and Analysis Officer
Coalition for the International Criminal Court

****************************************************
I-BASED PUBLICATIONS / BLOGS

1. Slate, David Luban, "Timid Justice", 28 February 2007,
http://www.slate.com/id/2160835/

"This week, the International Court of Justice released a disappointingly
wishy-washy ruling on whether Serbia bears responsibility, as a state, for
genocide in Bosnia during the Bosnian war. [...] Can the government as a
whole-rather than individual officials-be brought to account for monumental
crimes? [...] The court's reluctance to hold a state accountable for crimes goes
to the very heart of international law, which is itself a creature of states.
[...] international criminal tribunals (Yugoslavia, Rwanda, the International
Criminal Court, Sierra Leone, Cambodia) have prosecuted only individuals. [...]
The law against genocide is also partly to blame. It defines the crime narrowly
and in a way that makes it difficult to prove. [...] And the narrow definition
has other bad effects. A couple of years ago, a U.N. commission concluded that
Darfur wasn't a "genocide" because there was no evidence of specific intent to
destroy the non-Arab "black" tribes in Darfur "as such." The result was reduced
political pressure to do something about Darfur. [...]"

2. Commentary Magazine, Max Boot, "The Uses of ICC", 1 March 2007,
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/contentions/index.php/boot/205#more-205

"Conservatives love to hate the International Criminal Court. Elaborate
scenarios have been conjured up about how it could be politicized and turned
into an instrument of anti-American animus. [...] So far such alarmism has
proven groundless. The ICC seems to be doing exactly what it ought to be
doing-trying to hold real war criminals accountable for their actions in places
where the local legal system does not function effectively. On Tuesday, the
chief ICC prosecutor presented evidence against two suspects in the Darfur
genocide [...] Of course indicting suspects is one thing; apprehending them and
bringing them to the Hague for trial is more difficult. But this is a good first
step in bringing to justice the perpetrators of genocide, and makes it harder
for the Sudanese authorities to dodge responsibility, which is very much in the
interest of the entire civilized world. [...] in the future, American officials,
whether Republican or Democrat, should put aside their qualms and make use of
the ICC wherever possible to promote the international rule of law, a
longstanding American cause. [...]"

3. Arts You Blog, "Sudanese Dictators Efficiency", 2 March 2007,
http://artsublog.blogspot.com/2007/03/sudanese-dictators-deficiency.html

"[...] I don't believe that there're only two men in this comitragedy, and that
the crimes were committed only in Darfur. There're crimes committed by this
regime and its gangs which are well reported and documented at the Sudanese
opposition bureaus in Cairo.The International Criminal Court can search for more
crimes committed in Sudan since those dictators mount that camel called power
through the National Islamic Front's coup d'etat of 1989. The gangs of the
previously called (NIF) should also be called for treatments. The Ghost Houses
cases should be open to justice."

4. Opinio Juris, Julian Ku, "I Bravely Disagree With Angelina Jolie", 1 March
2007, http://www.opiniojuris.org/posts/1172776085.shtml

"[...] Jolie is no doubt right that consistent and severe punishment of crimes
against humanity would indeed change the calculus for would-be genocidal
perpetrators. But what she (and I think many ICC supporters) are missing here is
that there is no prospect of such consistent and severe punishment of
perpetrators without the intervention of outside military powers. Because
outside military intervention is not going to happen here, then the only serious
prospect for relieving the suffering in Darfur is to end the war through some
sort of domestic peace settlement.
The ICC is not really helping here in three ways. First, the ICC itself makes
the intervention of outside military powers less likely because, of course, such
interventions themselves would be subject to ICC jurisdiction and potential
prosecutions. I would say that the prospect of U.S. military intervention in
Darfur is now approaching zero and although the ICC is not the decisive factor
in preventing such an intervention, it is (at the margins) a disincentive.
Second, the indictments have pretty much allowed the U.S. and other powers to
dump off responsibility for Darfur on international institutions - institutions
that have almost no leverage over the Sudan government. Finally, and most
importantly, the indictments or possible indictments of Sudanese government
officials are not only unlikely to deter their past and future behavior (see the
article Prof. Jide Nzelibe and I wrote here making this point), but they may
actually deter them from acceding to a peace settlement since they now face
potential prosecution. What incentives do they have to make a deal now? [...]"

5. Opinio Juris, Kevin Jon Heller, "I Less Bravely Disagree with Julian", 1
March 2007, http://www.opiniojuris.org/

"[...] I do not believe that the ICC's involvement in Darfur is in any way a
panacea for the region's ills. And I am concerned that the Prosecutor has
summonsed (at this point) only one high-ranking official in the Sudan's
government, overlooking the complicity of Sudan's President, Omar El Bashir, and
Vice-President, Ali Osman Taha, in the Darfur atrocities. [...] What exactly
have the U.S. and other powers done that they can now stop doing? [...] If
anything, then, the ICC's involvement in Darfur is likely to increase the
possibility of Western involvement by ensuring that the atrocities in Darfur
remain front-page news (at least in Europe...) for the foreseeable future. [...]
the ICC's high-profile efforts can only be a good thing [...] The rebel groups
in Darfur, by contrast, have applauded the ICC's involvement - largely because
they know that there is no peace process for its involvement to disrupt. [...]
Again, the ICC's involvement cannot possibly be expected to bring peace to
Darfur. Julian is absolutely right to insist that more needs to be done. But I
disagree that the ICC will make the situation worse. Prosecuting high-ranking
members of the Janjaweed and the Sudanese government is a small step in the
right direction, but it is a step nonetheless."

6. International Crimes Blog, 1 March 2007, "International Criminal Court (ICC)
- Darfur - Prosecutor Names Suspects",
http://www.internationalcrimesblog.com/2007/03/international-criminal-court-icc-
darfur.html

"[...] The three-pronged test for admissibility is: [...] Pre-Trial Chamber I
received the OTP evidence and request to issue summons to appear for the two
suspects. The Chamber will issue a decision "in due course." A summons to appear
is an alternative to an arrest warrant. If the Pre-Trial Chamber is satisfied
that there are reasonable grounds to believe Haran and Kushayb committed the
alleged crimes and that a summons is sufficient to ensure their appearance, it
will issue the summonses, with or without conditions restricting their liberty
(other than detention) if provided for by national law. [...]"

7. Jeff Weintraub Blog, "Coalition of Genocide Deniers", 1 March 2007,
http://jeffweintraub.blogspot.com/2007/03/coalition-of-genocide-deniers-in.html

"The International Criminal Court has just announced that it will soon issue its
first indictments for war crimes in Darfur, one of which will name a minister in
the Khartoum government. [...] What could be more timely than a visit to
Khartoum by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? [...] As my friend Gershon
Shafir pointed out, the two belong to an exclusive club of genocide-denying
heads of government. One has been trying to deny the existence of a genocide
that already occurred, while the other tries to deny a genocide that his
government is in the midst of committing."

8. K-G and The Band Blog, "No justice, no peace in Darfur", 1 March 2007,
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=11247060&blogID=
236005802

"One of the many tragedies of Darfur is that some of the international
community's best-intentioned efforts to stop the slaughter of innocents end up
doing more harm than good. A case in point was Tuesday's move by the
International Criminal Court to target two suspected ringleaders in Sudan's
campaign of ethnic cleansing for prosecution. The ICC is simply doing its job,
and it's an important one. But in the end, its attempts to bring interior
minister Ahmed Haroun and militia leader Ali Kushayb to justice might just
strengthen the resolve of Sudan's ruling regime to dig in and reject all
attempts to resolve the ongoing crisis in Darfur. [...] There isn't much doubt
that many of Sudan's leaders, from President Omar al-Bashir down, should at
least be investigated for their involvement in war crimes and crimes against
humanity. [...] Though the U.N. is wrangling over the appropriate sanctions
against the Sudanese government, it's hard to imagine it could come up with a
stick big enough to prompt Bashir to risk sharing the fate of Saddam Hussein.
Which means unless we want to consider some kind of immunity deal for Sudan's
leaders -- which would set a horrible precedent -- the diplomatic options for
solving this crisis are fast shrinking to the vanishing point."

9. Partnership for a Secure America, Raj Purohit, "Is Darfur a Victim of the War
on Terror", 6 March 2007,
http://blog.psaonline.org/2007/03/06/is-darfur-a-victim-of-the-war-on-terror/

"[...] While this [announcement] is a very positive move by the ICC, the global
community in general and the U.S. in particular must do more. There are a series
of important steps our government could take. However the real question is not
what we need to do but why our government is not doing more. [...] Why are we
not stating clearly that we will give the ICC all the evidence it needs to bring
human rights violators to justice? Is this because our government is partnering
with the Sudanese government as part of its war on terror? After all, we know
that the CIA feted Salah Gosh, a key architect of the killing in Darfur, at
Langley in 2005. Many Court observers were surprised that Gosh was not named by
the ICC Prosecutor - some of these observers suspect that the Prosecutor does
not have the evidence to move against Gosh. Does the U.S. have any evidence that
would help the Prosecutor? If it did could we be sure it would share it with the
Prosecutor? [...]"

10. Daimnation, Damian Penny, "Angelina in the Post", 28 February 2007,
http://www.damianpenny.com/archived/008943.html

"Angelina Jolie has a piece about Darfur in today's Washington Post: [...] I'm
as cynical about Hollywood activism as the next guy, and some would say her
faith in the International Criminal Court is naive at best, but I think Jolie
deserves a lot of credit for speaking out about the first genocide of the 21st
century."

11. Daimnation, Mark C., "Darfur: Canada doing more than its bit/ UN force and
ICC", 6 March 2007, http://www.damianpenny.com/archived/008962.html

"[...] I doubt the recent International Criminal Court accusations will achieve
anything and will, I think, just make the Sudanese dig in their heels. [...]"

12. Simeon's Journal, Simeon P. Sungi, " 'ICC has no jurisdiction in Darfur',
says Sudan", 5 March 2007,
http://simeonsjournal.blogspot.com/2007/03/icc-has-no-jurisdiction-in-darfur-say
s.html

"Sudan's view that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has no jurisdiction in
Darfur is legally unsound. [...] The legal conclusion that I am trying to make
here is that impunity cannot be tolerated just because a State is not a party to
the Rome Statute that founded the ICC. This provision, Article 13 (b) is a sword
and can be used to any State that tolerates impunity. It is my opinion that this
provision strengths the international rule of law and gives the United Nations
Security Council chapter VII authority more teeth. [...]"

13. Three Quarks Daily, Edward B. Rackley, "Sandlines: 'A giant without arms or
legs'", 5 March 2007,
http://3quarksdaily.blogs.com/3quarksdaily/2007/03/sandlines_a_gia.html

"[...] Unsurprisingly, the ICC is being tested in central African countries with
the least economic and political significance to the major powers. Nor are any
ICC suspects combatants in wars supported by the world's major powers: otherwise
their indictment would surely be blocked. [...] Its primary challenge is the
pursuit of justice in war zones defined by their absence of political order.
Enforcement of legal limits and rights in an ungoverned-or
government-sponsored-context of ethnic cleansing, such as Darfur or the Ituri
district of Eastern Congo, is one difficulty. The subordination of justice-the
arrest and trial of known perpetrators-to the more immediate need for political
settlement is another. [...] Third, in Sudan, where ICC jurisdiction is
categorically refuted by Khartoum officials, many Sudanese associate the ICC
with a supposed 'colonization effort' by the UN and its western backers.
Concerns that ICC warrants recently issued for two Sudanese officials will
result in increased attacks on aid workers and the objects of their efforts,
Darfuri citizens, are well-grounded. Should justice be pursued if it entails the
withdrawal of the aid agencies' vital life-support system where more than
200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced? [...]

I believe that subtracting the ICC from the equation of variables at play in
each context would not diminish the cruelty or shorten its duration. Symbolic
though it may now be, the fact that warlords and implicated government officials
are investigated and held accountable by outside observers is a moral and legal
dimension of the geopolitical kaleidoscope that did not exist four years ago.
Reparations for victims may not be immediately forthcoming, but that suspected
perpetrators in these otherwise forgotten crises understand that their deeds are
documented and monitored is an essential first step in limiting the seemingly
boundless human cruelty of such places."

14. USA Today Blogs, (our opinion) "Genocide's Most Wanted", 5 March 2007,
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/03/post_10.html

"Countries, and people, shouldn't be allowed to get away with genocide. Yet the
world often reacts slowly or indifferently when it happens. The international
spotlight on atrocities and the men who commit them is too dim and fleeting to
fire reaction in even the way a TV program like America's Most Wanted does.
[...] Last week, the International Criminal Court indicted Ahmed Haroun, Sudan's
humanitarian affairs minister, and militia leader Ali Kushayb, in connection
with the genocide in Darfur that has claimed about 200,000 lives and is entering
its fifth year. Much more has to happen to stop the Darfur crisis and to
convince the Serbs to face up to their past and join Western Europe. A rogues'
gallery with international attention - call it Genocide's Most Wanted - might
help force the hands of recalcitrant governments and hold accountable those
responsible for mass murder."

15. Blog Sudan, 3 March 2007, "It Could Be You, Bob.....",
http://blogsudan.blogspot.com/2007/03/it-could-be-you-bob.html

"In a world where we are more likely to win the lottery than see a politician
held to account for causing human suffering and misery, this week's news from
Sudan was heartening. [...] I make no judgement on these men - frankly, despite
my suspicions, I don't know who is responsible for the atrocities in Darfur, but
at least some process of judicial scrutiny has begun. It will send out a strong
message to others in Africa and elsewhere who have blood on their hands and have
left uncalculable suffering in their wake : Next Time - It Could Be You.
Bob?..."

16. Orderfritt Blog, "International Criminal Court on Sudan: Not the right move
on Darfur", 2 March 2007,
http://ordetfritt.blogspot.com/2007/03/international-criminal-court-on-sudan.htm
l

"[...] We both agree that there is a need for an internal organic solution and
not an "outsider" solution to this conflict. That is why I regarded the move
from ICC and CG as outsiders move that assumed to lead more complications of the
problem. At least this is not the right time for it. An integral part to
conflict resolution is reconciliation and confidence building. This is what we
need at this stage using indigenous mechanisms to conflict resolutions and the
traditions existing in Darfur in this matter. Definitely the one who took the
decision at the ICC is not aware of the nature of conflict there or the
traditions of conflict settlement. [...] The western models of conflict
resolutions will therefore will hardly work here with quick fix, scheduled
meetings, deadlines and agreements. [...]"

17. Douglas Farah, Douglas Farah, "A Small But Important Step on Darfur", 28
February 2007,
http://www.douglasfarah.com/article/166/a-small-but-important-step-on-darfur.com
,

"The International Criminal Court took the small but important step of naming
names in the Darfur atrocities, homing in on the inner circle of president Omar
Hassan al-Bashir. [...] It is not enough, but the name and shame campaign is at
least a step. [...]"

18. The Daily Transit,
http://thedailytransit.wordpress.com/2007/02/28/injustice-review-2/, "Injustice
Review", 28 February 2007

"[...] While I'm usually predisposed towards governments handling their own
criminals, given the nature and scale of the violence in the region, I'd say
it's about time for the ICC to step in. [...]"

19. Simulated Laughter, 28 February 2007, A.E., "Justice in Darfur?",
http://simulatedlaughter.blogspot.com/2007/02/justice-in-darfur.html

"[...] The ICC's action is meaningless blather. [...] It's also highly possible
that al-Bashir's rhetoric calling the UN an American-Israeli front may not just
be cynical boilerplate--he could honestly believe that the real goal is to drive
him out of power. If this is really the case, the ruling will only reinforce his
bizarre paranoia, and make Sudanese assent to UN intervention even more
unlikely. [...]"

20. General Speaking, "Toothless Avenger", 28 February 2007,
http://generalspeaking.blogspot.com/2007/02/toothless-avenger.html

"The idea of an international court of justice is a comforting one in theory.
But in practise it may achieve its purpose as a moral weapon in the
international arsenal aiding the search of justice, more than a working tribunal
whose findings can actually bring malfeasance to justice. Take the International
Criminal Court's naming of a Sudanese cabinet minister along with a top
commander of pro-government militias as the first identified war-crimes suspects
in the Darfur region's conflict as a case in point."

21. UN Dispatch, Mark Leon Goldberg, "A Tool At the World's Disposal", 28
February 2007, http://www.undispatch.com/archives/2007/02/a_tool_at_the_w_1.html

"[...] Though these are two relatively mid-level players, the investigation in
Darfur is still open. [...] So now that the ICC has opened the prosecutorial
floodgates in Sudan, what does that mean for the long suffering people of
Darfur? Specifically, how can the ICC help break Khartoum's opposition to the
already authorized peacekeeping force for Darfur? The answers here depend on how
key players of the international community choose to respond to these new
developments. The ICC has just given the international community a point of
political leverage over the Khartoum. If key international players back the
ICC's work in Darfur, the investigations can help press Khartoum to break its
opposition to peacekeepers. [...]"
22. SudanReeves, Eric Reeves, "The ICC "Application" Concerning International
Crimes in Darfur", 27 February 2007, http://www.sudanreeves.org/Article155.html

"[...] This assessment is evidently a very slow process, and creates for Darfur
an even more dilatory time-frame for the workings of justice and meaningful
accountability. [...] What we have at present, then, is the public naming of two
particularly vicious actors in the Darfur genocide, but with no prospect of
extradition, justice---or deterrence. It is a very small step, and the
Prosecutor's Application does nothing to make explicit the role of senior
members of the National Islamic Front regime in orchestrating, and presently
sustaining, genocide in Darfur. Further, it does nothing to address the
overwhelmingly urgent issue of the moment: protection for vulnerable civilians
and for humanitarian organizations operating in Darfur. [...]

Today's actions by the ICC do not reach nearly high enough into the senior ranks
of this vicious "security cabal." The naming of Haroun and one of the most
murderous of the Janjaweed leaders is at best a very modest first step. [...]
What we have today, as the people of Darfur realize all too clearly, is an
exceedingly limited account of the responsibility for the ethnically-targeted
violence of recent years [...]

With no independent police or enforcement resources of its own, the ICC is
impotent (as we have seen in northern Uganda), and there is nothing to suggest
that Khartoum will ever feel obliged to cooperate in any fashion with the
Court---particularly since those most culpable occupy the most senior positions
of power, and are most threatened by any progressing ICC investigation. [...]

The role of the ICC in responding to the catastrophe in Darfur has been oversold
from the beginning. [...] there is no evidence whatsoever to support Human
Rights Watch's "deterrence" theory, even as there is very considerable evidence
of the dramatic deterioration in security for aid operations throughout Darfur
over the past year and a half. [...]

Today's actions by the ICC are entirely of a piece with other international
responses to the Darfur crisis: belated, insufficient, unable to halt growing
violence on the ground and consequent insecurity for civilians and their
increasingly fragile humanitarian lifeline. Despite the terrifying vulnerability
of some 4.5 million conflict-affected civilians in the greater humanitarian
theater; despite the most tenuous humanitarian purchase on the ground in Darfur,
which has brought all aid organizations to the very brink of withdrawal; despite
the deep and repeated betrayals of Darfur over the past four years; despite all
this, there is no sign that the International Criminal Court is any more able to
halt the continuing genocide by attrition than other international actors of
consequence. Until the world community finds the courage to confront Khartoum's
génocidaires for who they are, rather than the notionally legitimate
interlocutors they are expediently treated as, there will be no change in
Darfur. We will see death and suffering stretching out indefinitely before us.
It is a sight to extinguish belief in justice."

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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