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Darfur III: Humanitarian and Peacekeepers 'at risk' according to Sudanese Officials; SC Members and AU/AL Request; Op-Eds

23 July 2008

Dear all,

This is the last of a three-part message on the current situation in Darfur, Sudan and the repercussions on last week's application by the ICC Prosecutor to the Pre-Trial Chamber I to issue a warrant of arrest under against Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur.

In this message you will find information on a statement by one of President al-Bashir's adviser, saying that international aid workers and peacekeepers in Darfur were 'at risk'; statements from members of the Security Council on a possible deferral of the investigation for the period of 12 months under Article 16 of the Rome Statute and opinion articles, including one from the New York Times by David Rohde, in which he states that after Mr. Karadzic's arrest "legal experts said his capture bring subtle new pressure to bear on the Sudanese leader."

For more information on Darfur and the ICC, please visit the Coalition's site at http://coalitionfortheicc.org/?mod=darfur

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.

Best regards,

Mariana Rodríguez-Pareja

CICC Communications

[email protected]

********

I. HUMANITARIAN WORK AT RISK AFTER PROSECUTOR'S APPLICATION, SUDANESE ADVISER SAID

i."Sudan says Darfur aid workers at risk over ICC," Reuters, 22 July 2008

http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL221009408.html

"International aid workers and peacekeepers in the troubled Sudan region of Darfur are at risk after the indictment against President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes, his adviser said on Tuesday.

The International Criminal Court has sought an arrest warrant for Bashir for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity which rights groups have hailed but some analysts warned could derail the fragile peace process in the country.

'If there is an indictment of the president of the Sudan, how can the international community hold Sudan responsible for the protection of the many international bodies that are working in Darfur?' Bona Malwal told a news conference.

Malwal said if an arrest warrant was issued, one of the next casualties would be international peacekeeping operations in Darfur.

'There is no way we can accept that an international force that we don't command stays in Darfur with a warrant of arrest on our president,' he said.

Malwal said Sudan's government may not be able to discharge its duties including allowing aid workers in.

'We will not give visas, we may even withdraw visas. If we say Darfur has become a contested territory between us and the ICC, we can only look after the security of the territory and not the security of international personnel,' he said..."

ii. "Indictment of Sudanese Leader Seen as Threat to Peacekeepers," The Washington Post, 20 July 2008

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/19/AR2008071901608.html

"Six days before Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir was charged with genocide, a group of 200 fighters on horseback, supported by more than 40 vehicles mounted with machine guns, carried out the bloodiest and most sophisticated ambush yet on a fledgling U.N. and African peacekeeping mission.

The July 8 attack -- which killed seven peacekeepers and wounded 22 -- bore similarities to Sudanese-backed raids by Janjaweed horsemen that have led to the deaths of more than 300,000 civilians and forced nearly 3 million people from their homes in Darfur over the past five years, according to internal U.N. accounts.

Some U.N. officials suspect the operation was intended to serve as a warning to U.N. peacekeepers and humanitarian workers of Sudan's intent to use deadly force if the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court targeted the country's leader. On Wednesday, those fears were heightened after a Nigerian company commander was killed by unidentified assailants in the town of Forobaranga in West Darfur.

...The Sudanese government has strenuously denied involvement in the attack, accusing a rebel faction, the SLA-Unity, of responsibility. U.N. peacekeeping officials said that Sudanese authorities actually improved cooperation in the days following the announcement of the charges against Bashir. The U.N. case, said Sudan's U.N. envoy, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad, 'doesn't hold water.'..."

See also:

i." Situation Calm In Darfur After Recent Attacks - UN," PR United Nations, 23 July 2008

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0807/S00654.htm

ii. "Sudan says aid workers might not be safe if arrest warrant issued for president," Canadian Press, 22 July 2008

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hRgw5Mgmmwg3g4jL8Tpr5gorKOtA <http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hRgw5Mgmmwg3g4jL8Tpr5gorKOtA>

II. SPOKESWOMAN MONTAS ON UN ROLE

i. "UN cannot interfere with ICC ruling on Darfur: spokeswoman," AFP, 21 July 2008

http://www.africasia.com/services/news/newsitem.php?area=africa&item=080721203314.7f3ws1c6.php

"The United Nations cannot interfere with the decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor to seek the arrest of Sudan's president for alleged genocide in Darfur, spokeswoman Michele Montas said Monday.

'The position of the Secretary General is very clear,' Montas told a press briefing. 'The ICC is an independent body. The secretariat of the United Nations cannot interfere nor be involved in anything that involve the ICC.'

She made the remarks after African Union (AU) leaders on Monday asked the UN Security Council to delay any decision by the ICC on whether to indict Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir on genocide and war crimes charges..."

III. US: SUDAN SHOULD COMPLY WITH UNSC RESOLUTIONS

i."Sudan: Minister meets US envoy, requests clear position on ICC," BBC Monitoring Middle East, 20 July 2008 [link not available]

Text of report by state-owned Sudanese news agency Suna website

"The government has urged the US administration to make its stance clear towards the International Criminal Court [ICC] and its accusations against the Sudanese leadership. Speaking to the press following his meeting today with the US charge d'Affaires in Sudan, Alberto Fernandez, the state minister for foreign affairs, Al-Ustad [honorific] Ali Ahmad Karti, said that he had informed the charge d'Affaires of the Sudanese government's position. We requested him to give us the US administration's clear stance on this court since the US had not signed its statute and it had an interest in and in view of the need to abide by the Peace Agreement, he said..."

ii. "US hints at opposition to suspending ICC indictment of Sudan president," Sudan Tribune, 22 July 2008

http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article27966 <http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article27966>

"The US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that the Sudanese government has an obligation to comply with UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions.

....Rice who was speaking to reporters on board the plane to Abu-Dhabi, United Arab Emirates said that Sudan 'needs to live up to the obligations and responsibilities that have been put upon it by the UN Security Council'..."

IV. SECURITY COUNCIL MEMBERS ON THE AU REQUEST

i."UN may want to suspend ICC action on Bashir - Russia," Reuters, 22 July 2008

http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN224368.html

"The U.N. Security Council may want to consider suspending any war crimes indictment of Sudan's president by the International Criminal Court, Russia's U.N. ambassador told reporters on Monday.

The African Union has urged the Security Council to put on hold any ICC decision to accept the court's chief prosecutor's call for an indictment of and arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir over war crimes in Darfur.

The AU appeal, issued on Monday after a meeting of the African Union Peace and Security Council in Ethiopia, followed a similar appeal by the Arab League and boosted Khartoum's diplomatic efforts to block any indictment.

'We should be very attentive to their appeals,' Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin told reporters ahead of a meeting of the Security Council on other issues.

....Churkin said Russia should not be the one to initiate the suspension process, though he made it clear that there were strong arguments for suspending any ICC action on Bashir...."

ii. "France downplays AU, Arab requests for blocking Sudan ICC indictment," Sudan Tribune, 22 July 2008

http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article27967 <http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article27967>

"The French Ambassador to the UN Jean-Maurice Ripert reiterated his country's position that the UN Security Council (UNSC) should not interfere with the International Criminal Court (ICC) proceedings on Darfur.

'The UNSC should not interfere with the due process of law in terms of letting the ICC do its work' French diplomat said.

'We remind the authorities in Khartoum that they have some obligations and commitments vis-à-vis the UNSC which repeatedly asked for their cooperation with the ICC and it is not too late for them to cooperate' he added....

...Ripert stressed that the ICC judges have not made a decision on prosecutor request for an arrest warrant..."

iii. "France downplays AU, Arab requests for blocking Sudan ICC indictment,' Sudan tribune, 22 July 2008

http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article27967

"The French Ambassador to the UN Jean-Maurice Ripert reiterated his country's position that the UN Security Council (UNSC) should not interfere with the International Criminal Court (ICC) proceedings on Darfur.

..... The African Union today asked the UNSC to invoke article 16 of Rome Statue and suspend any indictment of Sudan's head of state. The Arab League has not made such a request formally but condemned the move by the ICC's prosecutor and said a plan was in the works in cooperation with AU and UN.

Asked to comment on the African and Arab bloc at the UN requests to suspend indictment, the French diplomat said he respects AU decision but scathingly dismissed any imminent decision on the matter...."

See also:

i. "Russia: UNSC may consider suspending ICC charges," Xinhua, 21 July 2008

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/22/content_8744731.htm

V. OPINIONS

i."Arrest Gives Credibility to War Crimes Tribunals," By DAVID ROHDE for the New York Times, 22 July 2008

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/world/europe/22tribunal.html

"The arrest of Radovan Karadzic on Monday gave badly needed credibility to international war crimes tribunals that have struggled for years to bring fugitives to justice, according to former prosecutors, legal experts and human rights groups. And the arrest bolstered arguments from tribunal officials that patience, multilateral diplomacy and creativity can make the institutions more effective.

'It's building up piece by piece,' said Martha Minow, a law professor at Harvard and an expert on war crimes trials. 'This is building up the legitimacy of these institutions.'

Mr. Karadzic will be the third high-profile figure to be brought before a United Nations-backed tribunal on war crimes charges in the last six years, following in the footsteps of President Charles Taylor of Liberia and the Serbian president, Slobodan Milosevic. For years, supporters of the tribunals have argued that if leaders were brought to trial the courts could serve as a deterrent.

But Mr. Karadzic, who remained free for nearly 13 years, made a mockery of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, which in 1993 became the first such body established by the United Nations.

Although repeatedly seen in public when American and NATO forces entered Bosnia in 1996, he was not arrested, in part out of fear that seizing him could cause a violent backlash against NATO forces.

Instead, the United States and the European Union tried to use economic and diplomatic pressure on Serbia to force his arrest. Until Monday, the policy appeared to be a failure.

At the same time, other war crimes tribunals established by the United Nations came under fire. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was criticized by Rwandans as being hugely expensive, based outside Rwanda and largely detached from the country itself. And the establishment of the International Criminal Court - a permanent tribunal intended to prosecute war crimes globally - was delayed for years by tortuous negotiations and fierce opposition from the Bush administration.

Only last week, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court was criticized for requesting that genocide charges be filed against President Omar al- Bashir of Sudan. Critics warned that the move would complicate peace negotiations for the Darfur region of Sudan and never lead to Mr. Bashir's arrest, given the international community's poor track record on arresting fugitives.

After Mr. Karadzic's s arrest, legal experts said his capture bring subtle new pressure to bear on the Sudanese leader.

.....Human rights groups said the arrest of Mr. Karadzic had the potential to significantly bolster the clout of the long-maligned tribunals. Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch's International Justice Program, said that Mr. Karadzic had come to 'personify impunity.'

'For international justice, this is a very good thing,' he said. ..."

ii. "ICC Indictment: let President al-Bashir prove himself," Sudan Tribune, by Roba Gibia, 22 July 2008

http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article27976 <http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article27976>

'Since when the Darfur crisis erupted in 2003 especially after attack on El Fasher airport and other military posts in Darfur, the Khartoum government never wasted a minute in arming Arab tribes, Popular Defense Forces and army reserves in order to deal with the Darfur insurgency, but outrageously enough the military campaign was not directed only against insurgency but to all penury Darfurian civilians regardless as whether they were elderly or children or women. And that was the commencement of Khartoum's merciless and genocidal crimes against humanity in Darfur, where the entire villages were burnt down and the international community were barred from entering Darfur to assist the internal displaced people, with pretext that it is Sudan's internal problem which was widely supported by the Arab countries. Khartoum government started committing crimes against its own people with absolute impunity in South Sudan during the Anya-nya I, II and SPLA/M movement and consequently in Darfur, was in my own view just like when big fish (Shark) feels that there is imminent danger threatening its existence or life. Thus, the reprisal was the arbitrary and well organized massacre or extermination of the total small fishes that do not comply and consent with the big fish's discriminative ideology. Therefore, the situation in Darfur was left to deteriorate till the entire population in Darfur were uprooted and driven out of their villages to displaced camps, and were depending solely on the international aid.

...Khartoum government continued to commit atrocities against humanity and at same juncture continues to deny that there is no problem in Darfur, and termed what is happening in Darfur as bandits and tribal conflicts between the tribes over the grazing areas and water, which many of ingest minded Khartoum's cronies believed. When the crisis in Darfur reached its peak and it was described by the international community that Rwanda two is taking place in Darfur, and the world is watching there was not single horrific footage of Darfuris suffering displayed on the Sudanese TV and media which is controlled by the government.

...Therefore, in my view, the Khartoum government has to confess that they never dealt appropriately with Darfur crisis, but instead handled Darfur crisis on selective and discriminative basis, which is Arabs versus black Africans. President Bashir confessed that nine thousand people died in Darfur since when the crisis erupted in 2003, and this can constitute enough evidence for his indictment. Beside that his vice president Ali Osman Taha who is believed by many analysts as the chief architect of the war in Darfur said in an interview 'Nobody would say that we have been perfect in handling Darfur'...."

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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 endeavour 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.

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