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Sudan, Part II: Repercussions of the Press Briefing by ICC Prosecutor; Reactions from Sudan allegedly looking into "ways to develop a new position towards the ICC's demand to hand over" the war crimes suspects

21 Sept 2007

Dear all,

Please find below the second half of today's media digest on recent
developments related to the International Criminal Court's investigation in
Darfur, Sudan.

This digest includes information on the repercussions of the press briefing
by the ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo yesterday at the UN headquarters in
New York on Darfur, calling the international community not to remain
silent, before all the atrocities committed; reactions from Sudan, allegedly
looking into "ways to develop a new position towards the International
Criminal Court's demand to hand over" the war crimes suspects; and
repercussions of the latest HRW report on Sudan, calling the UN to impose
new sanctions.

Please also 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.

With regards,

Mariana Rodriguez Pareja
CICC Communications
[email protected]

******

I. MORENO-OCAMPO: 'SUDAN MUST ARREST THE TWO SUSPECTS"

i. "Prosecutor demands Sudan arrests," BBC News, 21 September 2007,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7006180.stm

"Sudan must arrest two men charged with war crimes in Darfur, the
International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, has
warned.

Warrants for Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ahmed Haroun and Janjaweed leader
Ali Muhammad Ali Abd al-Rahman were issued by the ICC in April.

.. Mr Ocampo urged delegates to raise the issue with Khartoum at a major UN
meeting on Darfur on Friday.."

ii. "Prosecutor Urges Arrest of Sudan Figures," Associated Press, 21
September 2007,
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iiP4wkHSaahk_oQkZbcLsX8_Ej7A

" ... Ministers from 26 countries have been invited to attend Friday's
meeting chaired by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and African Union
Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare. The gathering is aimed at mobilizing support
for new political negotiations, deployment of a 26,000-strong AU-U.N. force,
and expansion of humanitarian assistance to Darfur.

But bringing those most responsible for killing over 200,000 people and
uprooting more than 2.5 million during the 4 1/2-year conflict is not on the
agenda.

Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Thursday that Sudan's government must be
reminded of its duty to arrest the country's humanitarian affairs minister,
Ahmed Harun, who faces charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.."

iii. "Court urges Sudan war crimes arrest," Al Jazeera, 21 September 2007,
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/811C4C66-6F2A-43DF-B60A-76FEE5DC5619.
htm

".Moreno-Ocampo has called for the arrest of Ahmed Harun, Sudan's
humanitarian affairs minister, who faces charges of war crimes and crimes
against humanity.

He said he was concerned that silence by world leaders 'has been understood
in Khartoum as a weakening of international resolve'.."

iv. "Prosecutor wants arrest of alleged war criminals atop Darfur agenda,"
Canadian Press, 21 September 2007,
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hRtm-bWyzn-ma0zIK0UPKBFu6Yvw

"The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has urged world
leaders to put justice atop the agenda of a high-level UN meeting on Darfur,
saying there will be no peace in the Sudanese region if alleged war
criminals remain free.

... [The Sudanese Ambassador to the UN] Mohamed accused Moreno-Ocampo of
coming to New York "to destroy the peace process" instead of helping ensure
the success of the political negotiations in Libya starting on Oct. 27.."

v. "Justice urged as topic for Darfur talks: The pursuit of war criminals
must not be left off the table, the world court's prosecutor says on eve of
international summit," Los Angeles Times, 21 September 2007,
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-justice21sep21,1,3371388
.story?coll=la-headlines-world

"The prosecutor for the International Criminal Court challenged world
leaders Thursday to not leave criminal justice off the agenda as they
convene at the U.N. to discuss Darfur.

Sudan has refused to hand over a government minister and a militia leader
accused by the Hague-based world court in May of orchestrating mass killings
in Darfur. Months later, prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo says, he is more
frustrated by the refusal of top United Nations officials and others to push
for the arrests because they fear it would jeopardize pending peace talks
and the deployment of peacekeepers.

Foreign ministers from 26 nations and officials from the European Union and
Arab League are to meet today in New York to discuss efforts to establish
peace in Darfur, where four years of conflict have resulted in hundreds of
thousands of deaths and displaced more than 2 million people. They plan to
discuss peace talks set for Oct. 27 in Tripoli, Libya; arrangements for the
deployment of 26,000 peacekeepers; and helping victims recover their homes
and livelihoods.."

vi. "Solution in Darfur Linked to Minister's Arrest," New York Times, 21
September 2007,
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/21/world/africa/21briefing-Sudan.html?_r=1&ad
xnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1190389667-eVQdtNJGPGp1dG/C6FwcRw

"The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis
Moreno-Ocampo, said there could be no solution to the crisis in Darfur as
long as Sudan continued to refuse to arrest Ahmad Haroun, a minister
indicted on war crimes charges in May.."

vii. "ICC Prosecutor urges world to be on the side of Darfur victims," Sudan
Tribune, 21 September 2007
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article23860

"The Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Luis
Moreno-Ocampo said that the world must ensure that Sudan turn over two
Darfur war crimes suspects.

'The law has to be respected' the low-key prosecutor told reporters at the
UN headquarters yesterday in his strongest statements ever on the Darfur
case ahead of a UN-AU high level meeting.

... Ocampo has been pressing for the inclusion of the outstanding arrest
warrants against two Sudanese officials in the agenda of the meeting.
However it is not clear whether this will be the case.."

viii. "Speak up on Darfur suspects, prosecutor tells UN," Reuters, 20
September 2007,
http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSN20403567._CH_.2400

"The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on Thursday challenged
the United Nations and its members to break their silence on two men he
charged with war crimes in Darfur.

... [UN Secretary General] Ban [Ki-Moon], who needs Khartoum's cooperation
to get a peacekeeping force into Darfur and start cease-fire talks, said he
had spoken to Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir about the suspects
during his recent trip to Khartoum.

But he would not disclose what was discussed and U.N. sources said he did
not brief Moreno-Ocampo afterwards..

... Sudan has said the charges against Harun were false. But Moreno-Ocampo
said Harun was responsible for forcing millions out of their homes and now
is controlling security and access to food in the camps.."

See also: "ICC prosecutor presses for arrest of Darfur war crimes suspects,"
Agence France Presse, 20 September 2007,
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070920/wl_africa_afp/uniccsudandarfur

ix. "UN meeting aims for movement on Darfur peacekeeping force," CBC News
Canada, 21 September 2007,
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/09/21/un-darfur.html

"The world community is scheduled to meet Friday at the United Nations to
discuss political negotiations to end the conflict in Sudan's embattled
Darfur region and the deployment of a 26,000-strong peacekeeping force.

Ministers from 26 countries have been invited to attend Friday's meeting
chaired by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and African Union Chairman Alpha
Oumar Konare.

The UN and Western governments had pressed Sudan for months to accept a plan
for a large joint force of 20,000 UN and African Union peacekeepers to
replace the overwhelmed 7,000-strong African force now in Darfur.

Sudan initially accepted the hybrid peacekeeping plan in November, but then
backtracked, before finally agreeing in June.

U.S. State Department spokesman Jason Small told CBC News on Friday the
meeting was a chance for the international community to maintain strong
pressure on the Sudanese government to honour the agreement.

'We're watching them closely, and if we see any indication that they begin
to obstruct or hinder the deployment of this peacekeeping force, then the
international community is prepared to take further steps,' Small said in an
interview from Washington.

.. The meeting comes a day after the chief prosecutor of the International
Criminal Court urged world leaders to put justice high on the meeting's
agenda, saying there will be no peace in the region if alleged war criminals
remain free.."

II. THIRD WAY TOWARDS ICC ISSUE: SUDAN

"Sudanese paper says government seeking 'third way' towards ICC issue," BBC
Monitoring Middle East (Excerpt from report by liberal Sudanese newspaper
Al-Sahafah), 20 September 2007, (link unavailable)

"The government is studying ways to develop a new position towards the
International Criminal Court's [ICC] demand to hand over the state minister
for humanitarian affairs, Ahmad Harun, and one of the Popular Defense Force
leaders, Ali Koshayb, who are accused by the ICC of committing war crimes
and crimes against humanity in Darfur.
The government aims to make this new position public if a genuine
breakthrough is achieved towards a peaceful solution to the crisis in Darfur
at the forthcoming peace negotiations [27 October] in Tripoli.

... Al-Sahafa has learnt from informed government sources that consultations
at high levels are being conducted to form a government view on its dispute
with the international community over the referral of the dossier on
violations in Darfur to the ICC. The sources would [could] not reveal any
details about the new position but described it as 'a third way' between the
international community's insistence on involving the ICC and the government
of Sudan's refusal to cooperate with the court on the pretext that it did
not have the mandate to consider the Darfur issue because Khartoum had not
ratified the ICC's statute."

III. REPERCUSSIONS HRW REPORT ON SUDAN

i. "Rights group urges U.N. to impose sanctions on Sudanese government for
attacking civilians," Associated Press as reprinted in Miami Herald, 21
September 2007,
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/AP/story/244887.html

"The United Nations should impose targeted sanctions on the Sudanese
government if it continues to attack civilians and humanitarian workers in
the Darfur region, a U.S.-based human rights organization said in a new
report.

Human Rights Watch accused the international community of failing to take
effective action despite increased global attention on the crisis.

'Concerned governments and international institutions should be prepared to
strengthen the less-than-robust track record on maintaining pressure on the
government of Sudan and other parties to the conflict to meet their
obligations under law,' said the report released on Wednesday.."

ii. "Prosecutor Urges Arrest of Sudan Figures," Associated Press reprinted
in The Guardian (UK), 21 September 2007,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6938274,00.html

"The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has urged world
leaders to put justice atop the agenda of a high-level U.N. meeting on
Darfur, saying there will be no peace in the Sudanese region if alleged war
criminals remain free.

... Moreno-Ocampo said Harun suspected of involvement in the murder, rape,
torture and persecution of civilians in Darfur is now in charge of the
millions of people he forced out of villages into camps."

*****

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
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information about the ICC and to help coordinate global action to
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whole, and its secretariat, do not endorse or promote specific
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