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Darfur: Third Case in The Sudan for Crimes Allegedly Perpetrated by Rebel Groups; Egypt; France's Position and Other Related Information

16 Nov 2008

Dear all,

Find below information on the ICC investigation in Darfur, Sudan.

This message includes media articles reporting on the prosecutor’s announcement about a third case in Sudan that will look into crimes allegedly perpetrated by rebel groups, especially in the attacks against African Union peacekeepers in Haskanita; Egypt asked the ICC to suspend any investigation, but soon that information was rejected by the government; articles on France’s position and other related information.

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.

Regards,

Mariana Rodriguez-Pareja
CICC Communications
[email protected]

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I. NEW CASE: HASKANITA

i. “ICC prosecutor seeks warrants in third Darfur probe,” Yahoonews, 14 November 2008,
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081114/wl_africa_afp/warcrimessudanconflictdarfuricc_081114173607

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said Friday he would seek arrest warrants next week in a new probe into war crimes in Darfur -- his first into acts by Sudanese rebel groups.

"Next week we will request new arrest warrants, for the attack against African Union peacekeepers in Haskanita" in southern Darfur in September last year, Luis Moreno-Ocampo told a gathering in The Hague of state parties to the Rome Statute that created the ICC.

‘This is our third Darfur investigation.’

Ten African Union peacekeepers were killed in an attack on Haskanita in southern Darfur in September last year.

In a report to the United Nations Security Council in June, Moreno-Ocampo said he had information that the killings were committed by two rebel splinter factions…”

ii. “Moreno-Ocampo targets Darfur rebels,” IOL South Africa, 15 November 2008,
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_Africa&set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=nw20081114135124926C531099

“The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court says he will seek arrest warrants next week related to a deadly attack on African Union peacekeepers in the Darfur region of Sudan. Luis Moreno-Ocampo says his third Darfur investigation is focused on attacks in Haskanita.

He earlier said he was investigating a September 29 attack on the Haskanita military base that left 10 African Union soldiers dead and one missing….”

iii. “Sudan: Darfur Arrest Warrants Sought,” New York Times, 15 November 2008,
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/15/world/africa/15briefs-DARFURARREST_BRF.html?ref=world

“The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said Friday that he would seek arrest warrants for war crimes in Darfur including, for the first time, actions by Sudanese rebels. The prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said the warrants would involve attacks on African Union peacekeepers in September 2007, in which 12 were killed. Speaking in The Hague, the prosecutor did not disclose the names and number of suspects, but earlier he had said that two rebel factions carried out the attacks. The court previously issued arrest warrants for a former government minister, Ahmad Harun, and for Ali Kushayb, a leader of the government-backed janjaweed militia. In July, Mr. Moreno-Ocampo requested the arrest of the Sudanese president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, but the court is still reviewing the evidence and has not issued a warrant for him….”

II. EGYPT AND SUDAN

i. ”Egypt seeks war crimes reprieve for Beshir,” AFP, 11 November 2008,
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hXNQmuTcuz5YpM0Pnq-vjKtKLJXA

“Egypt called on Tuesday for the International Criminal Court to delay for a year any war crimes indictment against Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, while efforts are under way to end fighting in Darfur.

Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit made the comments after a rare visit to Sudan by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Monday when he discussed the Darfur conflict with Beshir.

Abul Gheit cited an ICC clause that allows for the deferral of war crimes investigations for one year at the request of the UN Security Council, the official MENA news agency reported.

‘In this period we could, with Egyptian, African and international efforts, achieve reconciliation in Sudan,’ it quoted Abul Gheit as saying…”

ii. “Egypt working to defer ICC Sudan indictment: agency,” Reuters, 11 November 2008,
http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnJOE4AA08W.html

“Egypt is working to defer any indictment of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court on charges of orchestrating war crimes in Darfur, Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said.

Khartoum has said that peace in the war-racked Darfur region in western Sudan, where non-Arab rebels took up arms in 2003, would be impossible if the U.N. Security Council does not stop the ICC from indicting Bashir.

‘Sudan is going through difficult circumstances,’ Egyptian state news agency MENA cited Aboul Gheit as saying. ‘We are working on two tracks. One is reconciliation and the other is to delay any charges or the court taking up this matter.’

…. ICC judges are not expected to make a decision on whether to indict Bashir before January. The accusations against Bashir include war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

Aboul Gheit said Egypt supported Bashir and Cairo had asked the Arab League to make efforts at the United Nations and in the African Union to get the U.N. Security Council to ask the court to shelve the matter for a year….”

iii. “Egypt warns Sudan that Bashir not immune from ICC prosecution,” Sudan Tribune, 15 November 2008,
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article29268

“The Egyptian government warned Sudan that its stance on the International Criminal Court (ICC) is ‘weak’ and will not protect president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir from prosecution.

‘I thoroughly examined the ICC Statute to look for something that could aid Sudan’s position. Even though Sudan is not a state party this will not prevent the ICC jurisdiction in these cases and dropping all immunities’ the Egyptian State minister for Legal and parliamentary affairs Mufid Shihab said during a forum at the Saudi Embassy in Cairo.

The Egyptian official stressed that the only way out for Sudan and its president is to take ‘concrete and concise steps’ and that there is no point of taking extreme positions on rejecting the ICC.

The ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo Ocampo announced in mid-July that he requested an arrest warrant for Al-Bashir on 10 counts of war crimes and genocide. In early October ICC judges have officially started reviewing the case in a process that could possibly drag on to next year.

The statements by Shihab mark a radical shift in Egypt’s position which has backed Sudan in position against the ICC.

The Egyptian minister, who is an international lawyer expert, has previously said in August that Khartoum is not bound by the ICC since it is not a member of the court and emphasized that Al-Bashir enjoys immunity as a head of state.

Shihab’s remarks come days after the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak paid a surprise and brief visit to Khartoum where he held private talks with Al-Bashir believed to have mainly focused on the ICC row….”

III. FRANCE SAYS CEASEFIRE NOT ENOUGH

“France says ceasefire is not enough to suspend ICC indictment,” Sudan Tribune, 14 November 2008
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article29255

“French foreign ministry official said today that the offer of unilateral ceasefire pledged by the Sudanese president is not enough to persuade Paris to oppose his possible indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

‘What we expect from the Sudanese authorities is an immediate and radical change of attitude on several points ... and this ceasefire declaration does not represent such a change,’ said French foreign ministry spokesperson, Eric Chevallier.

‘For now, there is no reason to consider that our position has changed in any way ... The question of an Article 16 suspension is not even on the agenda at this stage,’ he told Reuters by telephone.

The ceasefire is one of the major demands that the SLM Chief, Abdel-Wahid Al-Nur wants government to implement in the region before to participate any talks. On the other hand, the Justice and Equality Movement says they would not observe any ceasefire till the last minute before the signing of a definitive peace deal.

Chevallier was speaking after a press statement by the European Union Presidency welcoming the announcement by the Sudanese president of a ceasefire unilaterally in Darfur.

The European presidency which is currently led by France, said would follow closely the effective implementation of this commitment.

The Presidency of the Council of the European Union called on all parties to cease violence and to engage actively in seeking a political solution to end the suffering of the people and establish lasting peace in Darfur and the region.

Sudanese officials had voiced hopes that the positions of France, Britain and the United States on the issue of Bashir’s possible indictment would soften after his announcement.

But the French foreign ministry spokesperson told Reuters that Paris expected from Khartoum swift progress on a political process to resolve the Darfur war, of which there was no evidence, and a change of attitude on the issue of outstanding ICC warrants against two other Sudanese officials…..”

IV. AL BASHIR DEFIANT SAYS ICC MOSQUITO BUZZ

“Sudanese president says ICC allegations are like ‘mosquito buzz,” Sudan Tribune, 12 November 2008,
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article29227

“ The Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir downplayed his indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC) stressing that it does not bother him.

…. But Al-Bashir speaking to a rally in Kordofan, described the ICC accusations as ‘nuisances’ and ‘similar to mosquito buzz’.

The Sudanese president also accused certain parties of attempting to move war from the western region of Darfur to bordering province of Kordofan in central Sudan.

He also lashed out at Western enemies of his country saying his government ‘does not hear humiliation or embarrassment’.

…. Al-Bashir statements come a day after a surprise visit by the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in which they discussed the ICC issue in a private meeting.

Some analysts in Khartoum speculated that Mubarak warned Al-Bashir that a quick resolution to Darfur crisis is the only way to fend off ICC charges.

Last week Al-Bashir blasted Western countries and accused them of trying to topple his regime during the last 20 years….”

V. EDITORIAL

“If Peace Comes to Darfur, thank the International Criminal Court,” by The Telegraph for David Blair, 14 November 2008,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/11/14/do1405.xml

“When Sudan's military dictator declared a unilateral ceasefire in Darfur this week, he was conducting the biggest plea bargain in history. President Omar al-Bashir, who seized power in a coup in 1989 and leads one of Africa's most ruthless regimes, did not try to halt Darfur's bloodshed out of the kindness of his heart. On the contrary, for the past five years, his armed forces and their associated militias, popularly known as the janjaweed or "devils on horseback", have pillaged villages at will, waging a ruthless war that has claimed some 300,000 lives, either from violence, starvation or disease.

Instead, Mr Bashir called the ceasefire because he faces a little legal difficulty. In July, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, asked for Sudan's leader to be formally charged with three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of war crimes.

At present, the ICC's "pre-trial chamber" is considering this request. So far, Mr Bashir has not been formally charged and no arrest warrant exists in his name. But this could change quite soon. Early next year, the judges will probably decide whether to uphold Mr Moreno-Ocampo's accusations.

If they go ahead and formally charge Mr Bashir, he will achieve the unenviable status of being the only head of state in the world to face criminal proceedings at the ICC. All this has deeply wounded Mr Bashir's dignity. He knows that if he is formally charged - and particularly if the three counts of genocide are upheld - he will carry the mark of Cain.

So he needs a way out and, fortunately for Mr Bashir, the founders of the ICC have unwittingly given him a loophole. Under Article 16 of the Rome Statute, which established the court in 2002, the United Nations Security Council can vote to defer legal action against any individual.

If Mr Bashir is charged, he could ask the Security Council to let him off the legal hook. Of the five permanent members, China is a close ally of Sudan. Beijing gets about 10 per cent of its imported oil from Sudan and has invested billions in the country's energy reserves.

Russia has no oil interests in Sudan, but it has sold Mr Bashir plenty of weapons over the years. The fearsome MI-24 helicopter gunships, which Sudan's air force has employed to level villages in Darfur, were made in Russia.

So Mr Bashir can probably count on two votes in the Security Council. But he still needs the support of Britain, America and France to be sure of an "Article 16 deferral".

In public, all three countries have said precious little about their position on this vital question. Privately, they are using the possibility of a deferral as much needed leverage over Sudan's regime.

For once, Mr Bashir needs their votes - and so he must make concessions. Hence the declaration of a ceasefire this week.

The dictator's predicament may also explain why Sudan has quietly locked up Ali Kushayb, a notorious militia leader who has been formally indicted by the ICC for alleged war crimes.

The next time Mr Bashir calls a cabinet meeting in Khartoum, there might be another nervous face at the table. One of his colleagues, Ahmad Harun, holds the remarkable distinction of being minister of humanitarian affairs and an indicted war criminal. All that you need to know about Sudan's regime is betrayed by the fact that the man holding formal responsibility for the aid effort in Darfur has also been charged with 51 counts of alleged war crimes.

In order to get his deferral from the Security Council, however, Mr Bashir may have to lock up Mr Harun. In the finest traditions of African dictators, Mr Bashir may sacrifice his friends in order to save his own skin.

But there is another course open to the president. Instead of trying to appease his trio of critics on the Security Council, Mr Bashir could adopt a far tougher approach. On the table are two nuclear options.

Mr Bashir could simply retaliate against his own people by shutting down the aid effort in Darfur - and then blaming the West for their suffering. A sizeable constituency of African, Middle Eastern and even Western opinion would probably fall for this.

…But if Mr Bashir is formally charged, this will sorely test his goodwill. Many thousands of lives could hang on this unique example of plea bargaining by a president who fears becoming an international outlaw….”

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