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Darfur: Reactions to ICC Prosecutor's Sixth report on Darfur and blocked UN Security Council Presidential Statement; Newsweek Interview with ICC Prosecutor; Sudan Tribune interview with Sudanese opposition leader; Carter, Tutu Urge Cease-Fire; Op-Eds in

11 Dec 2007

Dear all,

Please find below information on recent developments related to the
International Criminal Court's investigation in Darfur, Sudan.

This digest includes continued reactions to ICC Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo's
Sixth report to the UN Security Council on Darfur; a news article on UN
Security Councils's failure to agree on a Presidential statement on Darfur;
a call for cease-fire from The Elders (Carter, Tutu) and an EU call on Sudan
to accept hybrid force; Newsweek interview with Prosecutor and Sudan Tribune
interview with Sudanese opposition leader; Institute for War and Peace
Reporting on Sudan, and New York Times and Boston Globe op-eds.

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 and current situations before the Court or situations under
analysis. The Coalition, however, will continue to provide the most
up-to-date information about the ICC.

With regards,

Mariana Rodriguez Pareja
CICC Communications

----
I. SUDANESE OFFICIALS REACT TO PROSECUTOR'S REPORT ON DARFUR

i. "Legal action on Darfur crimes urged," Al Jazeera News Africa, 6 Dec 2007
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/CF6D0EA1-945C-421B-BE2C-26EE68BDC68E.
htm, 5 December 2007.

"The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has said
that an investigation is to be launched into senior Sudanese government
officials over continuing crimes against humanity in Darfur.

.. For Sudan's part, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem, the country's UN ambassador,
accused Moreno-Ocampo of 'moral and professional bankruptcy', denounced his
report as 'the mother of all fabrications' and said the prosecutor had
become politicised. 'We caution against allowing him to spoil this road map
and to spoil the
peace process in Sudan,' Abdalhaleem said.."

ii. "Sudan Officials Lash Out At International Criminal Court Prosecutor,
UN" Nasdaq, 6 Dec 2007
http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20071206ACQDJON20071
2061505DOWJONESDJONLINE001096.htm&

"The conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region has claimed more than 200,000
lives and uprooted 2.5 million people since ethnic African rebels took up
arms against the Arab-dominated government in 2003. Critics accuse Sudan of
arming the janjaweed Arab militias that have terrorized Darfur villages - a
charge Khartoum denies.

But with Ban and others busy trying to overcome al-Bashir's resistance to
the U.N.-A.U. peacekeepers, there has been little outward international
pressure on Sudan over the ICC indictment."

Related articles:

"Sudan Reacts Angrily at World Pressure," AP, 7 Dec 2007
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gV7cYVSCvtLh_ohW7o9Lg-W0cJugD8TC5SU80

"Sudanese officials lash out at ICC prosecutor, say UN chief's criticism
unfair," International Herald Tribune (AP), 6 December 2007 ,
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/06/africa/AF-GEN-Sudan-UN-Internation
al-Court.php
"Prosecutor accuses Sudan over attacks on Darfur aid workers," The Irish
Times, http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/2007/1207/1196839055046.html

"Sudan military still targets civilians in Darfur: UN experts," Agence
France Presse, 6 December 2007,
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071206/wl_africa_afp/unrightssudandarfur

"Sudan rejects UN Darfur criticism," BBC News, 6 Dec 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7130811.stm

II. SECURITY COUNCL PRESIDENTIAL STATEMENT ON DARFUR BLOCKED

i. "China and Qatar block Security Council statement on Darfur crimes,"
Sudan Tribune, 10 Dec 2007
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article25104

"The UN Security Council (UNSC) failed to agree on a presidential statement
supporting the arrest of Darfur war crime suspect and their extradition to
the International Criminal Court (ICC).

.Italy's UN envoy Marcello Spatafora, who is also the UNSC president for
December, said that the council members felt a statement was 'not needed'
since the briefing by the ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo was 'loud and
clear'.

..British Ambassador John Sawers told reporters after the briefing that the
UNSC is working on a presidential statement that would express concern over
the failure to arrest the suspects. He said that he hoped that the statement
can be adopted this week.

Sudan's UN ambassador Abdel-Mahmood Mohamad also told Inner City press
website that Qatar and South Africa opposed the statement. However he noted
that the latter was forced to take different position since they are state
parties of the ICC.."

III. ELDERS URGE CEASE-FIRE ; EU URGES SUDAN TO ACCEPT HYBRID FORCE

i. "Carter, Tutu Urge Darfur Cease-Fire," USA Today, 6 Dec 2007
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-12-04-darfur-elders_N.htm?csp=34

"The group, known as the Elders, released a report of their findings from
a trip to Darfur in September. They warned of spiraling violence in the
western Sudanese region, including persistent rape of women and girls and
attacks on African Union peacekeepers now on the ground.

Meanwhile, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced
yesterday he was opening an investigation against Sudanese government
officials for what he called systematic attacks on refugee camps in
Darfur.."

ii. "EU pressures Sudan on hybrid peacekeeping force in Darfur," Xinhua Net,
9 Dec 2007
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/09/content_7219347.htm

"Top European Union (EU) officials laid pressure on the Sudanese government
over Khartoum's acceptance of a hybrid peacekeeping force in the Darfur
region.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, EU foreign policy and
security chief Javier Solana and EU development commissioner Louis Michel
met representatives of the Sudanese government on Saturday evening,
Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado told reporters.

.The EU also expressed concern over the lack of Sudanese cooperation with
the International Criminal Court.."

IV. NEWSWEEK INTERVIEWS PROSECUTOR; SUDAN TRIBUNE INTERVIEWS SUDANESE
OPPOSITION LEADER

i. "Luis Moreno-Ocampo: The Global Lawman," By Arlene Getz and Jonathan
Tepperman (NEWSWEEK), 8 December 2007 , http://www.newsweek.com/id/74374

"Midway through his nine-year term as prosecutor of the International
Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno-Ocampo is ebullient about the
prospects-and progress-of the tribunal. As bureaucracies go, he says, the
court has moved faster than expected against those accused of war crimes. In
New York last week to testify to the United Nations Security Council on
Sudan, Moreno-Ocampo, 55, spoke to NEWSWEEK's Arlene Getz and Jonathan
Tepperman about the work of the court and its evolving relationship with the
United States...NEWSWEEK: The concept of an international court was always
controversial. Your report to the U.N. Security Council says the Sudanese
government is not cooperating with your efforts to arrest two men [former
minister Ahmad Harun and militia leader Ali Kushayb] accused of war crimes
in Darfur. What weapons do you have to enforce your arrest warrants?

[ANSWER:]'The same weapons that the court has in this country: legitimacy.
People learn to respect that. People know they have to respect the law.
Before our case in Darfur, people were talking about Janjaweed militia, but
no one described how the system worked. We showed how Ahmad Harun
coordinated all these activities. Because my role is to understand how all
these crimes are committed, this information is crucial. That is some part
of the impact ... Also, look at northern Uganda, where the intervention of
the ICC had impact [after the court issued arrest warrants for leaders of
the Lord's Resistance Army in 2005]. When Sudan signed an agreement with us
to execute the warrant, [LRA leader Joseph] Kony lost his safe haven in
Sudan and moved to northern Congo. That produced an important change,
because it meant there were no more attacks in Uganda. Thousands of children
were walking into the bush each night to sleep safely. Now they are sleeping
in their own houses...'

'..Are you hoping that the U.N. troops scheduled to be deployed to Darfur
next year can find and arrest Harun and Kushayb?'

[ANSWER:]'No, we never requested the U.N. to make arrests. We've always made
it clear
that the government of Sudan is responsible for arrests. [But] they are not
investigating the cases.. They never recognized that a member of the
government was involved. Part of my job is to tell the truth. So when
[Khartoum says] these are isolated
attacks [on the Darfur camps], I say no way, it is a cover-up.' "

iii. "INTERVIEW: Sudan opposition leader says ruling party under pressure,"
Sudan Tribune, 10 Dec 2007
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article25114

"A Sudanese opposition recently released after four months of detention,
said that the government is under intense pressure domestically and
internationally..

[QUESTION]- What is your party's position on the International Criminal
Court (ICC) work in Darfur?

Al-Fadil: We support the court and what is doing. Justice has to be done.
Back in 2005 when the issue of Darfur war crimes came into surface a group
of prominent Sudanese lawyers told the government to establish special
tribunals headed by retired judges. They also recommended that the Sudanese
law be modified to incorporate punishment on crimes against humanity and
genocide. The trials as they suggested was to be monitored by the
international community. But the government ignored the call and so the ICC
has to step in."

V. EDITORIALS, OPINION ARTICLES IN NEW YORK TIMES, BOSTON GLOBE AND NEW IPWR
RELEASES

i. "EDITORIAL: The minister of abuse," The Boston Globe, 10 Dec 2007
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007
/12/10/the_minister_of_abuse/

".A desolating example of the failure to live up to the declaration came
last week, when the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court,
Luis Moreno-Ocampo, had to call on the UN Security Council to demand that
Sudan's government honor its obligation to arrest two officials who have
been indicted by the court for crimes against humanity in Darfur. This is an
egregious case of a government that not only commits massive violations of
human rights, but then protects and promotes the criminals in its midst.

Incredibly, one of the two men wanted by the ICC, Ahmad Haroun, was recently
appointed Sudan's humanitarian affairs minister. As such, he is responsible
for receiving and acting upon the grievances of human-rights victims in
Darfur. He has also been put in charge of monitoring the combined African
Union-United Nations peacekeeping force that is scheduled to deploy to
Darfur next month - a force that is being thwarted by Sudanese government
maneuvers as well as a failure of Western governments to provide airlift
capability.."

ii. "Thousands still suffer," by Rebecca Forbes for The Ticker, 10 Dec 2007
http://media.www.theticker.org/media/storage/paper909/news/2007/12/10/Featur
es/Thousands.Still.Suffer-3140200.shtml

"In today's society, human rights issues are more important than ever
because violations and abuses against human rights still occur. Even though
the Declaration exists, people from countries all over the world are
affected daily by poverty, civil war and mass genocide.

.This information led to the UN Security Council's decision in March 2005
to refer the case to the ICC. In June of the same year, the ICC Prosecutor
announced he was opening an investigation into the situation."

iii. "EDITORIAL: Delay, Obstruction and Darfur," New York Times, 10 Dec 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/10/opinion/10mon1.html?hp

"The world's leaders say they care desperately about Darfur's suffering,
until they get distracted. It took years of international hand-wringing
before the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution to send in
26,000 peacekeepers to replace a current force of 7,000, to try to halt the
killing. With the deployment now set for Jan. 1, major countries are
ignoring the U.N.'s appeals for essential aircraft, and Sudan's government -
which unleashed the genocide - is again reneging on its promises to
cooperate.

.Khartoum never seems to run out of ways to demonstrate its contempt for
the United Nations.

After the International Criminal Court indicted Ahmad Harun, Sudan's
minister of state for humanitarian affairs, for war crimes in Darfur,
Sudan's president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, refused to turn him over for
prosecution. Instead, Mr. Bashir put Mr. Harun on a committee overseeing
deployment of the new peacekeeping mission.

President Bashir and his henchmen may be the worst problem, but not the only
one.

There are serious questions about whether the United Nations can manage such
a large peacekeeping operation. Meanwhile, major players - including South
Africa, Russia, China, Ukraine and NATO - have not heeded a direct appeal
from Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to provide the helicopters and planes
that the force will need to do its job, or even defend itself, in a region
the size of France..

.The credibility of the Security Council is on the line. So are the lives
of 2.5 million Darfuris."

iv. New releases from Institute for War and Peace Reporting on Sudan:

"Darfur Justice Back on International Agenda,"
http://www.iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=341218&apc_state=henpacr

"War Threats Sounded"
http://www.iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=341004&apc_state=henpacr

"Al-Bashir Losing Grip on Unity Government"
http://www.iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=341006&apc_state=henpacr

**********************************
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
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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 (potential
and current), or situations under analysis 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:
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P.O. Box 19519
2500 CM The Hague
The Netherlands