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Darfur: Salih Osman 'there will be no peace without justice in Darfur'; Interview with Moreno Ocampo and Los Angeles Times op-ed

18 Dec 2007

Dear all,

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

This digest includes an interview with Darfurian activist and recent Sajarov
award recipient, Salih Osman, who believes the solution in Darfur is ‘to
bring to the perpetrators before the International Criminal Court’, because
‘there will be no peace without justice in Darfur, interview with ICC
Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo published in the daily La Nacion (Argentina),
in which he stresses that the Security Council must send a 'strong and
unanimous message' about Darfur; and a Los Angeles Times op-ed among other
articles.

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
[email protected]

I. INTERVIEW WITH DARFURIAN ACTIVIST SALIH OSMAN, RECENTLY AWARDED BY
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

i. Interview with Salih Osman: “There will be no peace without justice,” El
PAIS, 9 Dec. 2007
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/justicia/habra/paz/Darfur/elpep
uint/20071209elpepiint_4/Tes (in Spanish)

“The Sudanese lawyer and Parliamentarian Salih Osman, 50 years old, awarded
with the Sajarov 2007 prize for his denounces of human rights violations in
Darfur, is concerned for the absence of the Sudanese genocide in the
summit’s agenda. Osman demands ‘an urgent intervention of the international
community to stop the war crimes and the crimes against humanity that are
being committed in Darfur,’ (….) and thinks that the solution is ‘to bring
to the perpetrators before the International Criminal Court’, because ‘there
will be no peace without justice in Darfur.’

(…) Question: What do you think about the work of the Prosecutor of the
International Criminal Court Luis Moreno Ocampo?

Answer: Because of the horrifying nature of the crimes, there will be no
peace with Darfur without justice and redress. We support [Moreno] Ocampo’s
work, because he can bring the most notorious criminals to the stand,
although probably he will not be able to take the more powerful ones….”
(CICC unofficial translation from Spanish)

ii.“Salih Mahmoud Osman awarded with Sájarov 2007 and asks international
community to intervene in Darfur,” Periodistas España, 11 Dec 2007
http://www.periodistas-es.org/pes/artigo.asp?cod_artigo=2445 (in Spanish)

“In his address before the European Parliament, Salih Mahmoud Osman, stated
that the people of Darfur ‘need the EU to reach a position and guarantee the
protection of innocent civilians.’ Osman highlighted that although the
Security Council approved many resolutions on Darfur, ‘none of them has been
implemented effectively.’ ‘Victims are disappointed because they are
expecting news from Europe,’ he added (…)

(…) In terms of impunity for war crimes and human rights, Osman said that
‘none of the responsible has been taken to justice, because they are
protected under Sudanese laws’ and added that ‘there is total impunity in
this conflict.’ The International Criminal Court ‘has taken big steps for
accountability, but the impunity cycle has not yet been broken.’…” (CICC
unofficial translation from Spanish)

iii.”Salih Osman Receives Sakharov Prize,” European Report, 13 Dec 2007
http://www.newsahead.com/PREVIEW07/Sakharov_Prize_Dec_07.htm

“On 11 December, the President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert
Pottering (EPP-ED, Germany), handed over the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of
Thought to Sudanese lawyer Salih Mahmoud Mohamed Osman, who ‘puts his life
in peril every day for the cause of human dignity and justice’ by defending
the rights of victims of the Darfur conflict. …. According to the lawyer,
‘Europe has a role to play in forcing the Sudanese government to facilitate
the deployment of UN-African Union hybrid forces and the protection of the
people of Darfur’. He also reiterated that this conflict ‘is one which is
marked by a culture of total impunity’ and that there will not be
sustainable peace without justice. This is why ‘the people of Darfur ask you
to support the work of the International Criminal Court’. …”

N.B.: See also
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/public/story_page/008-14959-344-12-50-901
-20071212STO14958-2007-10-12-2007/default_en.htm

Related article: “Un défenseur des droits de l'homme réveille les
consciences au Darfour; Portrait; Le parlement européen a remis hier son
prix des droits de l'homme à Salih Mahmoud Osman, très actif dans le conflit
du Darfour, au Soudan,” La Croix, 12 Dec 2007

http://www.la-croix.com/archives/filtreArchive.jsp?id=20071212-8423219.xml&b
ase=c&qid=sdx_q0&n=1 (in French)

II. INTERVIEW WITH ICC PROSECUTOR MORENO OCAMPO WITH LA NACION (ARGENTINA)

i. "The conflict of Darfur: 'Sudan defies to the international community',
says Moreno Ocampo, ICC Prosecutor," La Nacion, 7 Dec 2007
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/exterior/nota.asp?nota_id=968852&origen=rss (in
Spanish)

“Before the lack of cooperation from Sudan, the International Criminal
Court's Prosecutor, the Argentine national Luis Moreno Ocampo, urged the UN
Security Council to press Khartoum for the immediate arrest of the two
individuals- so far- accused of crimes in Darfur.

'Sudan is challenging the international community,' he emphasized in his
presentation before the Council, talking about the refusal of the government
of President Omar al-Bashir to arrest the former- minister of the Internal
affairs, Ahmed Harun, current minister of Humanitarian affairs, and to the
leader of the pro-governmental militia Janjaweed, Ali Kushayb.

In February of this year, both were formally accused by Moreno Ocampo of 51
charges for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the western
zone of Darfur. Since in 2003 Arab Muslim rebelled turned against the
central government... Many non governmental organizations in the United
States estimate 450,000 people died in Darfur and have considered the
conflict a genocide.

.....'All lies'

After Moreno's energetic presentation before the Council, the Sudanese
Ambassador to the UN, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem, blamed Moreno Ocampo of
'moral and professional bankruptcy', and said that all this statements were
'made up' and warned that the work of the ICC Prosecutor could risk the
peace keeping force in Sudan.

After meeting with several Ambassadors, Moreno Ocampo - who was elected
prosecutor in June 2003- discussed with LA NACION about the future of this
complicated judicial process.

QUESTION- What are your expectations/ what do you think the Security Council
will do now? Do you foresee any sanctions?

ANSWER- I do not want any sanction [against Sudan]. What I want is the
Council to remind Sudan of the obligation to respect the law. There are many
forms of pressure [Sudan] for the execution of the arrests [warrants], but
the Council must send a strong and unanimous message. What I asked the
Council is to maintain the coherence in the United Nations; they asked me to
investigate and now they must press [Sudan in order]to fulfill [the mandate]
of [the] international law.

QUESTION- You announced the commencement of two new investigations in Sudan.
Would it be possible taking President Al-Bashir to the Court, somebody who
has protected the indicted until now? When can we expect for results?

ANSWER- Our goal is to investigate those who bear the greatest
responsibility according to the evidence [we gathered], and that is what we
will continue doing. Until now, the fastest term for accusations is of nine
months, and slowest, of 19 months; those are the ranks that we have. As far
as the trials, I still have 4 years to go, but there will be another
prosecutor coming after me; they can judge Harun in 5, 10 or 15 years; but
the victims... it is necessary to protect them now. For that reason, to
arrest Harun today is crucial.

QUESTION-What can Argentina do to stop the violence in Sudan and assuring
that the criminals face Justice?

ANSWER- To begin with, it can press the Sudanese government through [the]
United Nations. But Argentina has also great experience in the investigation
of this type of crimes; we have exceptional forensic equipment. It would be
very good to get more involved in these types of cases..."

(Unofficial translation provided by the CICC Secretariat.)

III. WOMEN ENDANGERED IN DARFUR

i. “Darfur Camp Breakups Intensify Women's Danger,” Womens News, 14 Dec 2007
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3427/context/archive

“’All information points not to isolated acts but to a pattern of attacks by
Sudanese officials against civilians, in particular the 2.5 million
displaced people,’ Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the International
Criminal Court, told the U.N. Security Council on Dec. 5.

Zahara Abdelnaim Mohamad Abdalla, who travels regularly to the two largest
camps for internally displaced persons in North Darfur--Abu Shouk and Al
Salam--issued similar warnings during a recent awareness-raising visit to
the United States, which ended on Dec. 4.

While working for Dar El Salam Women Development Association in El Fasher,
Abdalla says she witnessed multiple government attacks on the two
camps--which have a combined population of over 100,000 people--in the last
three months.

Women, she says, are the majority of the camps' adults.

‘Some of them are being forced by the government to leave the camp,’ Abdalla
told Women's eNews. ‘They are detaining camp leaders. Soldiers are attacking
them, shooting the IDPs….”

IV. CONTINUED CALLS FOR PEACE, ACCOUNTABILITY AND JUSTICE

i. “UN rights body urges Sudan to prosecute Darfur suspects,” Sudan Tribune,
15 Dec 2007
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article25177

”The U.N.’s Human Rights Council Friday sought to pressure Sudan to
prosecute those responsible for atrocities in Darfur and renewed the mandate
for its special rapporteur in the African nation.

…. However, the mandate for a group of experts created a year ago to monitor
human rights in Darfur has not been extended.

…The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, said earlier this
week that ‘grave violations of international human rights and humanitarian
law continue to be committed in Sudan, for the most part with total
impunity’….”

ii. “Peace in Darfur not possible without justice,” By Lisa Clifford, Katy
Glassborow and Sonia Nezamzadeh for Kuwait Times, 13 Dec 2007
http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MTkxNjQ0NzU0
"At times, it’s seemed as if the international community was willing to
abandon the threat of criminal prosecution against those accused of
committing war crimes in Darfur in exchange for a reduction of violence in
the troubled region of Sudan. After all, members of the United Nation's
Security Council had repeatedly failed to mention the arrest warrants issued
by the International Criminal Court against two Sudanese leaders in their
dealings with the Khartoum government...
….’Countries have realized that the Darfur situation has gone from bad to
worse, that all diplomatic measures have come to nothing and words have
proved useless until now,’ said Richard Goldstone, former chief prosecutor
of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia….”
iii. “Obstruction on Darfur,” The International Herald Tribune, 11 Dec 2007
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/10/opinion/edarfur.php

“World leaders say they care desperately about Darfur's suffering, until
they get distracted. It took years of hand-wringing before the UN 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 set
for Jan. 1, major countries are ignoring the UN appeals for essential
aircraft, and Sudan's government - which unleashed the genocide - is again
reneging on 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 president….refused to turn him over for prosecution. Instead,
[the presdident] put Harun on a committee overseeing deployment of the new
peacekeeping mission….”

iv. “HELICOPTERS FOR DARFUR,” Japan Economic Newswire, 13 Dec 2007
From:
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-ed-darfur13dec13,1,29666
71.story?coll=la-news-comment&ctrack=1&cset=true

“…..The stinginess over helicopters, of course, is only part of the problem.
European countries refuse to impose targeted sanctions against Sudan like
those approved by the United States. The international community has
successfully pressured China to use its considerable influence on Khartoum,
but that pressure is sporadic and easy for Beijing to shrug off. Efforts by
the International Criminal Court to try Sudanese officials for war crimes
have been rebuffed by Khartoum with no response from the United Nations….”

V. OPINION ARTICLE

“Whirlybirds for Darfur; Countries that pay lip service to the humanitarian
crisis aren't sending helicopters to help. Do they care?,” Los Angeles
Times, 13 December 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-darfur13dec13,0,5155839
.story?coll=la-news-comment-editorials

"….The international community has successfully pressured China to use its
considerable influence on Khartoum, but that pressure is sporadic and easy
for Beijing to shrug off. Efforts by the International Criminal Court to try
Sudanese officials for war crimes have been rebuffed by Khartoum with no
response from the United Nations. It's no wonder Sudanese President Omar
Hassan Ahmed Bashir doesn't take international demands seriously; there are
no consequences to his stonewalling.

...If world leaders truly don't care about the ongoing genocide in Darfur,
they should stop claiming that they do. So to the likes of German Chancellor
Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister
Gordon Brown: Put your choppers where your mouth is.”

**********************************
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