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Darfur, PART II: Op-Eds; IWPR Article quoting JEM on the ICC Arrest Warrants

14 Feb 2008

Dear Colleagues,

The second part of today's Darfur digest contains articles highlighting the
difficulties in working with the Government of Sudan to solve the conflict
in Darfur including an IWPR article quoting Abdullahi Osman El-Tom of the
Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) on the ICC arrest warrants in Darfur: "I
would of course [have] wanted the ICC to move higher, but I would like to
think other fellows [are] coming. Kushyb and Harun would not have acted if
they had not been instructed by some other people high up."

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,

Shelly Sayagh
CICC Communications

I. GOVERNMENT OF SUDAN: NO END IN SIGHT

i. "Chad's Insurgency Highlights Ongoing Darfur Genocide" by Eric Reeves
(Sudan Tribune) 8 February 2008
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article25878

". [T]o survive international pressure., to flout with disdain Security
Council resolutions and to thrive economically despite the crushing burden
of its more than $25 billion in external debt, Khartoum has depended upon
Beijing.. This insulating of Khartoum from international pressure is
longstanding and enormously consequential. In August 2006, for example .the
Security Council . authorized the deployment of 22,500 civilian police and
troops, with a robust mandate that included protecting civilians and
humanitarians, as well as staunching the flow of genocidal violence into
neighboring eastern Chad and Central African Republic. .China agreed to
abstain on the resolution .only because it had succeeded in inserting
language that 'invited' the consent of the Khartoum regime. The invitation
was of course contemptuously rejected, and for the first time in the history
of UN peacekeeping, an authorized force did not deploy. China had done more
than enough to convince Khartoum that it could defy the international
community with impunity.

We see this same sense of impunity in the regime's response to indictments
from the International Criminal Court (ICC). Resolution 1593 (March 2005)
referred atrocity crimes committed in Darfur to the ICC, despite China's
abstention on this vote. In spring 2007 the ICC issued its first
indictments, charging a Janjaweed militia leader, Ali Kushyb, and a
mid-level NIF official, Ahmed Harun, with a broad range of crimes against
humanity. In response Khartoum has spared no opportunity to express its
contempt for the ICC and its warrants. Indeed, Harun-who was deeply
complicit in many of the most brutal genocidal efforts of 2003-2004-has been
promoted: he serves as State Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and as a
member of a team selected by Khartoum to 'investigate' human rights abuses
in Darfur. Most troublingly, he is the regime's liaison with the UN/African
Union force (UNAMID) now attempting to deploy to Darfur.

In December 2007 the UN Security Council President (Italy) attempted to pass
a non-binding 'Presidential Statement' supporting the ICC special prosecutor
on Darfur, Luis Moreno-Ocampo. China insisted on eviscerating the statement
to the point of [vacuity], and the measure was quietly dropped. This
represented not only a serious blow to the struggling ICC but worked to
reassure Khartoum yet again that China would allow no serious action to be
taken.."

ii. "Darfur's Nightmare Unrelenting as Sudan President Promotes Notorious
Janjaweed Leader (Salem News, Source: Sudan Tribune; The Guardian) 4
February 2008,
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/february042008/darfur_02-04-08.php

"In January, Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir appointed a suspected
Janjaweed leader as a special adviser.

The tribal sheik, described as 'the poster child for Janjaweed atrocities in
Darfur,' now holds a senior government position. Musa Hilal, who is accused
of leading militias on a state-sponsored campaign to cleanse parts of Darfur
of non-Arab farmers, will act as special adviser to the minister of federal
government.

The appointment was made despite Hilal facing a UN travel ban and sanctions
for his role in the conflict, and ahead of his possible indictment by the
International Criminal Court for war crimes (ICC).

Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, defended the appointment. The notorious
tribal leader denied any wrongdoings.

.The International Criminal Court (ICC) has been investigating the war
crimes in Darfur and has issued arrest warrants against Ahmed Muhammed Harun
the Sudanese minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Janjaweed militia leader
Ali Kushayb.

Hilal was named in the filings made by the ICC prosecutor in February 2007
as making a speech alongside with Harun in July 2003, which was
characterized as 'racist.' However he was not named as a war crime suspect.

'Hilal was enthusiastic about unifying to fight the enemy and characterized
the conflict as a holy war,' the ICC prosecutor said in the document he
submitted to the judges."

iii. "ICC Prosecutor Lashes Out at Sudan Over Government Minister," (Africa
News) 10 February 2008,
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/africa/news/article_1390607.php/ICC_prose
cutor_lashes_out_at_Sudan_over_government_minister
"The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo,
expressed anger at the Sudanese government for continuing to protect one of
its ministers charged by The Hague-based court in relation to war crimes in
Darfur.
.Moreno-Ocampo was particularly critical of the current status of the
minister concerned, Ahmed Harun. 'We investigated for two years. Harun was
the minister involved in attacks on civilians, forcing them into the camps.
Harun has not been arrested, and now it is worse as he is minister for
humanitarian affairs,' Moreno-Ocampo said.
The Sudanese government was not only not cooperating in arresting Harun as
required of a member state of the United Nations but was actively protecting
him, he said.
Moreno-Ocampo appealed to the international community to put pressure on
Sudan to cooperate in arresting the minister, against whom the ICC issued a
warrant in April last year for war crimes and crimes against humanity.."

V. UN/AU PEACEKEEPING AND THE GOVERNMENT OF SUDAN

i. "Sudan Agrees Operating Rules of Darfur Peace Force" by Opheera McDoom
(Reuters) 4 February 2008,
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSMCD42712720080204

"Sudan and the joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force have agreed the
terms under which the 26,000-strong force will deploy in western Darfur,
officials said on Monday, removing a major barrier to its operations..The
International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for a Sudanese
junior cabinet minister and an allied militia leader for war crimes."

ii. "Darfur Peacekeepers Put on Hold" by El Sheik in Khartoum and Lisa
Clifford in The Hague (IWPR) 6 February 2008,
http://www.iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=342492&apc_state=henh

"The Sudanese government this week postponed signing an agreement that
allows United Nations and African Union peacekeepers in Darfur. One of the
most vocal critics of the Sudanese government and its lack of cooperation
with the UN peacekeepers has been the Justice and Equality Movement, JEM, a
key Darfur rebel group.

In a wide-ranging and exclusive interview with IWPR recently in The Hague,
JEM's head of training and strategic planning Abdullahi Osman El-Tom, put
much of the blame for the on-going tragedy in Darfur on the international
community and its apparent lack of commitment.

'Sudan has completely outmaneuvered the international community,' said
El-Tom by stalling on such issues as 'the selection of the [peacekeeping]
force and where they come from.'
.He also encouraged the international community to carry out the
International Criminal Court's arrest warrants against two Sudanese.

In April 2007, ICC judges issued warrants for Sudanese government minister
Ahmed Harun, and Janjaweed commander Ali Kushyb. However, Khartoum has
refused to accept the jurisdiction of the ICC over crimes in Darfur,
insisting that the Sudanese justice system can try the suspects.

'We don't trust the legal system in Sudan at all,' said El-Tom, adding that
'maybe in future that will change.'

In the meantime, he urged the ICC to become more active and issue
indictments against other higher ranking Sudanese officials.

'I would of course [have] wanted the ICC to move higher, but I would like to
think other fellows [are] coming,' said El-Tom. 'Kushyb and Harun would not
have acted if they had not been instructed by some other people high up.

'The international community sometimes comes up with this stupid
justification that [more indictments] will obstruct the peace forces. I
don't think so. It will speed it up. It will put a red line on the sand that
this is a line you cannot cross.'

El-Tom agreed that despite the efforts of the international community, Sudan
remains defiant. Among al-Bashir's recent gestures was the naming the
notorious Janjaweed commander Mousa Hilal to a cabinet advisory position.
.'Why appoint someone like this who was a criminal even before the current
crisis started? The answer, said El-Tom, was simple, 'Al-Bashir wants to
send a message to the international community to say look, I can do whatever
I want to do'."

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

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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
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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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