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Darfur, I: UNSC Mission in Darfur; Meeting with Bashir; French on sanctions; Khalilzad statement; and SLM request for cooperation

10 June 2008

Dear Colleagues,

Find below the first of two messages related to the International
Criminal Court's investigation in Darfur.

This digest includes information on the recent UN Security Council
(UNSC) Delegation mission to five countries in Africa which coincided
with the ICC Prosecutor's report to the Council in New York on progress in his Darfur investigation. The Prosecutor addressed the UNSC as UN Ambassadors were in Sudan. According to the information below, the 15 UN Ambassadors visited Darfur and met later with President Al-Bashir in Khartoum; US Deputy Ambassador Wolff indicated the ICC issue was on the agenda and French Ambassador Ripert said Europe would consider sanctions against Sudan 'if it refused to cooperate with the ICC'; the Sudan Liberation Movement - Unity Command sent a letter to the UN Secretary General asking that Khartoum be compelled to cooperate with the Court.

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. UN AMBASSADORS VISIT SUDAN ON A FIVE COUNTRY MISSION TO AFRICA

i. "UN Security Council envoys visit Darfur," Agence France Presse,
5 June 2008,
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5g2Yq9hntJ3oZw8aKJSDOBTrgMQfw

"Envoys from the UN Security Council on Thursday flew into Sudan's
war-torn region of Darfur, where what has been billed the world's
largest peacekeeping operation is struggling to get off the ground.

Ambassadors representing the 15 members of the Security Council
arrived in El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, where the
first joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force is based.

Their visit comes just hours before International Criminal Court
prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo is to brief the Security Council in New
York on Sudan's refusal to surrender suspected war criminals in
Darfur...."

ii. "UN Security Council gets firsthand look at Darfur," by Edith M.
Lederer (Associated Press),6 June 2008,
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iiP4wkHSaahk_oQkZbcLsX8_Ej7AD914AME00
"The U.N. Security Council got a firsthand look Thursday at the
worsening conflict in Darfur, which has killed up to 300,000 people
and forced 2.5 million to flee their homes.
..... The visit comes just two days after International Criminal Court
chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo alleged in a report that 'the
whole state apparatus' of Sudan is implicated in crimes against
humanity in Darfur.
.... The council met with al-Bashir on its return later Thursday to
Khartoum. During an address to the group, al-Bashir stressed that his government was determined to find a political solution to Darfur...."

iii. "Top diplomats in Darfur as Sudan accused of 'crimes against
humanity',"Canada Broadcasting Centre, 5 June 2008,
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/06/05/sudan-warcrimes..html

"Diplomats from the United Nations Security Council began a visit to
Darfur in western Sudan Thursday amid allegations that the 'whole
state apparatus' in Khartoum is involved in crimes against humanity in
the region. The allegations are in a report prepared by the chief
prosecutor for the International Criminal Court in The Netherlands, Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

..... Speaking in New York before accompanying the Security Council
delegation to Darfur, Sudan's UN ambassador, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem
Mohamad, said Moreno-Ocampo's charges were 'fictitious and vicious'
and harmful to the prospects for peace....."

II. PRESIDENT AL-BASHIR AND UN AMBASSADOR MET

i. "Sudan president meets Security Council delegation," Agence France
Presse, 5 June 2008,
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h1jMKWR8bsiPOpofBQBZ6dh8pxdA

"Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir on Thursday began meeting a UN
Security Council delegation, shortly after the prosecutor of the World
Court criticised his government over alleged crimes in Darfur.

.... Some UN officials earlier cited fears that the appointment could
have been cancelled following a heavily critical briefing by the
International Criminal Court chief prosecutor to the UN Security
Council in New York...."

ii. "Sudan's Bashir Cites US Precedents Against It, Calls Lockheed
'Bizarre,' Urged to Forgive JEM," by Matthew Russell Lee (Inner City
Press), 5 June 2008,
http://www.innercitypress.com/unsc5khartoum060508.html

"The UN Security Council Ambassadors were dressed-down by Sudanese
President Al Bashir on Thursday, in harsher terms than the Ambassadors
afterwards acknowledged to the press. After Bashir had finished his
opening speech, all journalists were asked to leave, so that the
Council members' questions and Basher's answered would stay secret.

Surprisingly soon after this closed-door meeting began, the
Ambassadors emerged, some of them grim-faced, and trooped out to their
bus..... [Sudan's Ambassador to the UN] said that his president had
told the Ambassadors that Sudan would never turn over any of its
people to the ICC, particularly when a member of the Security Council
also doesn't accept the jurisdiction of the ICC.

Back at the Rotana Hotel, Inner City Press asked if President Bashir
had spoken about a member denying ICC jurisdiction, and if so how the
Council had responded. UK Ambassador Sawers, gesturing to U.S.
Ambassador Alejandro Wolff, said he'd leave the response to the member
in question. There are others, Amb. Wolff noted. He then said that
since it involved a Security Council resolution under Chapter VII of
the UN Charter, Sudan is required to comply.

Inner City Press asked for a response to a more specific fairness
question: since the U.S. has a veto on the Security Council, it could
never be referred to the ICC by the Council. But that is how Sudan has
been referred. Their reasons and our reasons to argue jurisdiction
are different, Wolff said. And then the official press conference was
over, with nary a mention of the 'local procurement' issue which
President al Bashir had raised even in the opening meeting...."

iii. "Darfur / Security Council mission to Africa," African Press
Organization (Source: United Nations), 6 June 2008,
http://appablog.wordpress.com/2008/06/06/darfur-security-council-mission
-to-afri

"The Security Council delegation visiting Africa has completed its
programme of work in Sudan with a meeting with President Omar al
Bashir in Khartoum. They discussed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement
(CPA) between the north and the south of Sudan, the situations in
Abyei and Darfur as well as Sudan's non-cooperation with the
International Criminal Court (ICC).

..... On the ICC, the delegation regrets that President al Bashir
continues to reject any possibility of Sudan cooperating with the
Court, contrary to its obligations under Security Council Resolution
1593...."

iv. "Sudan President Vows Not to Cooperate with World Court," by
Margaret Besheer(Voice of America), 6 June 2008,
http://voanews.com/english/2008-06-06-voa4.cfm

"Sudan's President has told a U.N. Security Council delegation that
his country will not cooperate with the International Criminal Court,
which has accused his government of being involved in crimes in
Darfur. The president met with the visiting delegation late Thursday
in Khartoum, after the ambassadors returned from a brief visit to the
war-torn Darfur region. VOA's Margaret Besheer is traveling with the
delegation and files this report from the Sudanese capital.

During an hour and a half long meeting with the visiting ambassadors,
President Omar al-Bashir told them he would not cooperate with the
court, which is seeking the arrest of two Sudanese - a government
minister and a militia commander - on charges of war crimes, and which
just announced it would bring new charges against senior government
members for involvement in crimes in Darfur.

British Ambassador John Sawers said the council raised the subject of
the court with Mr. Bashir and asked for Sudan's cooperation and arrest
of the two men. "His response was that Sudan was not a party to the
ICC and would not hand over any of its citizens to international
courts," he said.

Security Council members and the ICC say Sudan must comply under the
terms U.N. resolution 1593 which demands the government's compliance
with the court. Diplomats said they would consider other measures to
press Sudan to cooperate...."

v. "Beshir slams 'vicious campaign' in UN talks," Agence France Presse 5 June 2008,
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h1jMKWR8bsiPOpofBQBZ6dh8pxdA

"President Omar al-Beshir vigorously defended Sudan on Thursday after
his state apparatus was accused of crimes in Darfur, telling UN
ambassadors that his country was tarnished by a vicious campaign.

Not once mentioning the International Criminal Court, whose chief
prosecutor on Thursday lambasted Sudan before the UN Security Council
in connection with crimes against humanity, Beshir insisted the
situation in Darfur was improving.

'My country has been subject to an unfair and intentional campaign.
This vicious campaign has tried to exaggerate and distort facts. It
has tarnished the image, heritage and values of our people,' he said.

The campaign is led by people 'bent on exploiting the conflict in
Darfur to serve their own agenda,' said the head of state, dressed in
a white robe and with 15 representatives of the UN Security Council
seated to his right...."

III. REACTION FROM EUROPEAN UNION, UNITED STATES AND SLM

i. "EU could act against Sudan for harbouring 'war criminals', EU
Business, 4 June 2008,
http://www.google.com/search?q=EU+could+act+against+Sudan+for+harbouring
+'war+criminals'&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:offici
al&client=firefox-a

"The European Union is willing to consider penalties against Sudan
should it continue to harbour suspected Darfur war criminals charged
by the world court, a top diplomat said on Wednesday.

French ambassador to the United Nations, Jean-Maurice Ripert, whose
country assumes the rotating EU presidency in July, criticised Sudan's
refusal to surrender two alleged war criminals to the International
Criminal Court (ICC).

.... 'France and the European Union are ready to consider additional
measures against the government of Sudan if it continues to refuse to
cooperate,' Ripert said. 'All the Europeans present supported me. It's
the first time that six European countries (those in the UN Security
Council) state clearly that this UN resolution must be respected.'


ii. "Ambassador Zalmay Khalizad holds a media availability on Sudan and
the Prosecutor of the ICC, and Zimbabwe,"U.S. Mission to the U.N. via
Political Transcript Wire, 5 June 2008, (no link available)

"Speaker U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Zalmay Khalizad:

"[W]e heard the very disturbing report from the [ICC] Prosecutor dealing
with the situation in Darfur. We believe that those who have committed
crimes against humanity need to be brought to justice and we will work
with colleagues in the Council on a PRST that Costa Rica is working on -
on an appropriate PRST in support of the Prosecutor's effort."

iii. "Sudan lashes out at international court charges of government
complicity in Darfur crimes," Associated Press, 4 June 2008
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/04/africa/AF-GEN-Sudan-UN-Interna
tional-C

".... [Sudanese] Foreign Minister Deng Alor told reporters that the ICC 'said this a long time ago' and explained to the Security Council
delegation that Sudan's national unity government groups political
parties with different views on the court.

Alor said the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement, the south's main
party which he represents, 'calls for cooperation' with the tribunal,
something the ruling National Congress Party in the north vehemently
opposes.

Britain's U.N. Ambassador John Sawers, co-leader of the U.N. visit, said that a 'significant number' of council members called on Sudan to
cooperate fully with the ICC but got 'an unsatisfactory reply.'

Sawers said Sudanese presidential adviser Nafie al Nafie stated that
'Sudan did not consider itself a party to the ICC and therefore it would not cooperate.' France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert said he stressed that as a U.N. member, Sudan has an obligation to comply with the Security Council resolution that referred the Darfur conflict to the ICC.

Ripert said the U.N. delegation's message to Sudan was that 'there were some obstacles to the support of the international community as long as they (the government) were not cooperating with the ICC.' He warned that France and the European Union 'were ready to consider some
further steps' if Sudan continues refusing to cooperate...'

..... A spokesman for the Sudan Liberation Movement, one of the largest
rebel groups in Darfur, said justice is essential for realizing peace in Darfur.

'Justice can't be ignored, while pursuing the political track,' SLA
spokesman Yahia Bolad told The Associated Press on the phone. The
government must comply to the ICC decisions, 'and if they have nothing
to hide, why don't they want to cooperate with the court?'

iv. "Security Council Members Push to Condemn Sudan," by Neil
MacFarquhar,New York Times, 6 June 2008,
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/world/africa/06nations.html?ref=africa

"The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court presented a
grim portrait of conditions in the Darfur region of Sudan to the
Security Council on Thursday, as a majority of Council members pushed
for what would be the first statement in three years condemning the
Sudanese government.

....The United States, long openly antagonistic toward the court,
signaled a more supportive approach, with the American ambassador,
Zalmay Khalilzad, endorsing it to prosecute war crimes in Darfur. In
the past the United States has shown only passive support, abstaining
on votes regarding the court's involvement in Darfur.

....Costa Rica, which currently holds a seat on the Council,
circulated a statement condemning Sudan for its lack of cooperation,
specifically in refusing to hand over Ahmad Harun, the former minister
of state for the interior, and Ali Kushayb, the leader of the militia
that has carried out attacks against civilians, for trial in The
Hague. Sudan's president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, even appointed Mr.
Harun his minister of state for humanitarian affairs, in charge of
coordinating relief efforts for the people he is accused of
massacring.

'The Security Council has been too shy in responding to Sudan's
refusal to comply with regards to Darfur,' said Bruno Stagno Ugarte,
Costa Rica's foreign minister.

...... Five Council members, including China, Indonesia and Libya,
questioned Costa Rica's position, suggesting that the body was too
one-sided in condemning the government and not the rebels and by
failing to pursue talks vigorously while expecting issues of justice
to progress.

Sudan echoed that argument. 'It takes two sides to end the conflict,'
said Akec Khoc, Sudan's deputy ambassador to the United Nations.
'Unfortunately we need parties to dialogue with.' He said Mr. Harun
remained a government minister because he retained Mr. Bashir's
confidence.

Nine Council members voiced support for condemning Sudan, meaning
Costa Rica could probably force the resolution to a successful
vote....

Mr. Khalilzad, the American ambassador, expressed perhaps the most
vocal support for the International Criminal Court to date by a senior
American official, saying that criminal accountability was needed 'to
enhance security and to send a warning to individuals who might resort
to brutality as a way of achieving their aims.'..."

v. "Rebel group urges UN pressures on Sudan," Sudan Tribune, 5 June
2008, http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article27419

"A Darfur rebel group has urged the UN Security Council to condemn the
arbitrary arrest and torture of Darfuri in Khartoum following a rebel
coup against the Sudanese capital last month.

The Sudan Liberation Movement - Unity Command asked the UN Security
Council to open an international judicial inquiry about human rights
abuses by the Sudanese government against Darfur people in Khartoum.

....In its letter sent yesterday to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki
Moon, the rebel group also requested to compel Khartoum to hand over
Sudanese officials and militia chiefs suspected by the International
Criminal Court of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.

It further asked to force Sudan to implement the different UN
resolutions on Darfur...."

*****
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