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Darfur: Abu Garda Confirmation Hearing; Limited Travel Possibilities for Sudanese President Al-Bashir; Statements from Different ICC States Parties Doc

29 Oct 2009

Dear all,

Please find below information related to the International Criminal Court's investigation in Darfur, Sudan

This digest includes media coverage of the recent Abu Garda confirmation hearing at the ICC (I); Sudan's reported acknowledgement of the limited travel possibilities that Al-Bashir has since the issuance of the ICC arrest warrant (II); and statements from different ICC states parties (III). 

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.

CICC Secretariat
Coalition for the ICC
www.coalitionfortheicc.org


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I. ABU GARDA CONFIRMATION HEARING 

 i. “ICC trial for Darfur rebel to start next week”, Sudan Tribune, 10 October 2009, http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article32742

“The International Criminal Court (ICC) will start the confirmation of charges hearings for a Darfur rebel chief accused of masterminding a raid on African Union (AU) peacekeepers in 2007. The hearings were originally set to start on Monday October 12th, but were delayed by a week in order to afford the prosecution additional time to provide to the defense Arabic translations of witnesses’ testimonies.
….Bahr Idriss Abu Garda the leader of the Darfur United Resistance Front (URF) appeared voluntarily before an ICC judge last May in a procedural hearing.
The ICC judges issued a sealed summons to appear for Abu Garda, as an alternative to an arrest warrant after he agreed to appear voluntarily before the court. Abu Garda said he is confident of his innocence and called on other suspects including Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir to follow path to clear their names.
The ICC prosecutors charged Abu Garda and other unnamed rebel commanders with leading an attack on African Union (AU) peacekeepers that left 12 soldiers dead and wounded eight others according to court documents . …”

 ii. “International Criminal Court to hear Darfur case ,”   by Thijs Bouwknegt for RNW, 14 October 2009, http://www.rnw.nl/int-justice/article/international-criminal-court-hear-darfur-case-0

“The International Criminal Court will start confirmation of charges hearings in the case against Darfur rebel leader Abu Garda on Monday 19 October.
…The 46-year-old Abu Garda faces three counts of war crimes, including murder and pillaging, for commanding about 1,000 men to attack international peacekeepers in 2007. The assault killed 12 African Union soldiers and seriously wounded eight others at their military base in Haskanita, in north Darfur.
 Abu Garda has denied any involvement in the attack and said he was prepared to go The Hague…”
 
II. SUDAN ON AL-BASHIR TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS 

 i. “Sudan acknowledges ICC warrant limited Bashir travel,” Sudan Tribune, 28 September 2009, http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article32614

“The arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) last March has placed restrictions on where president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir can travel, a Sudanese official said today.  Bashir has been charged by the ICC judges on seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Sudan’s Western region of Darfur since 2003.

…The court’s decision is ‘limiting the movement of the president,’ Al-Bashir adviser Ghazi Salah Al-Deen told Associated Press in an interview.

‘He has to study of course any particular (travel plan) on its own merits,’ he said.

The Sudanese official stressed that Bashir would not give himself up to the court’s jurisdiction….”

 ii. “FACTBOX: List of states Sudanese president avoided since ICC warrant,” Sudan Tribune, 28 September 2009, http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article32615

“The Sudanese presidential adviser Ghazi Salah Al-Deen Al-Attabani said today that his boss Omer Hassan Al-Bashir have had to carefully plan his foreign travels in light of the outstanding arrest warrant for him.

… Only ICC members have a legal duty under the Rome Statute to arrest Bashir though several of them have dismissed any chances of that happening.

In July the African Union (AU) adopted a resolution granting reprieve to Bashir from arrest in the continent. However, some African countries appear to have distanced themselves from the decision afterwards.
Since the ICC arrest warrant, Bashir has travelled to a handful of African and Arab countries including Ethiopia, Eritrea, Zimbabwe, Libya, Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. None of these states are ICC state parties.

The ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo that Bashir ‘was merely showing his desperation’ by travelling to neighboring countries. The Sudanese head of state has also snubbed invitations to a number of countries that have invited him to summits…”

III. SOUTH AFRICA, BOTSWANA, FRANCE, CANADA ON SUDAN 

 i . “South Africa president warns Sudan’s Bashir of arrest,” Sudan Tribune, 27 September 2009, http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article32593

“The president of South Africa Jacob Zuma affirmed his country’s position over the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) last March.

Speaking to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, the South African president said that ‘as a signatory of this particular agreement [the ICC Statute] we said that once he has been arrested [in South Africa by judiciary], we could not stop the arrest of Bashir. That is the position we made.’

Asked by Amanpour whether he sticks to his earlier statements that if Bashir ‘was to ever set foot inside your [South Africa] country you would order him arrested’, Zuma replied ‘that is correct.’

The statements are the first of its kind by an African head of state since the ICC charged Bashir with seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. This is also the first time Zuma speaks on the issue since the African Union (AU) summit held in Libya last July in which the states adopted a resolution that they shall not cooperate with the ICC in executing the warrant….

…The remarks made by Zuma would likely outrage Khartoum which had said in the past that African ICC states are required to comply with the AU decision. They would also put South Africa at odds with its ally Libya, which pushed for the resolution.

Botswana and Chad are the only two countries in Africa that have publicly announced that they will not abide by the AU resolution halting cooperation with the ICC.”
 
 ii . “Zuma’s remarks on ICC warrant ‘misunderstood’ says Sudan,” Sudan Tribune, 30 September 2009 http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article32636

“The Sudanese government downplayed statements made by the president of South Africa Jacob Zuma in which he said that his country will arrest his Sudanese counterpart Omer Hassan Al-Bashir if visits.

Zuma told CNN in an interview last week that despite his government’s view that Bashir’s warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) should be deferred to give peace efforts a chance, but as signatories to the Rome Statute they have legal obligations.

The Sudanese foreign ministry spokesperson Muawiya Khalid was quoted by media as saying that statements attributed to Zuma ‘are simply a misunderstanding.’

Khalid said that Khartoum understands the position of South Africa on ICC ‘within the framework of the ICC.’  He also dismissed claims that other counties such as Botswana and Uganda are willing to cooperate with the ICC in arresting Bashir.

Both countries have warned Sudan that he faces arrest of he was to ever come up to their shores.  The Sudanese head of state was forced to turn an invitation to take part in a conference in Uganda last July as a result.

This was despite the African Union (AU) decision in July to halt cooperation with the ICC in executing the warrant. However, South Africa issued a formal statement afterwards saying it cannot abide by that resolution. The South African Vice President Kgalema Motlanthe is scheduled to visit Sudan in late October, Khalid said…”

  iii. “Botswana affirms position on ICC warrant for Sudan president,” Sudan Tribune, 24 October 2009, http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article32899

“The government of Botswana this week reiterated its support to bring Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir to justice.

The prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) accuse Bashir of masterminding a campaign to exterminate African tribes in Sudan’s Western region of Darfur.

The African Union (AU) has adopted a resolution last July instructing its members who are signatories of the Rome Statute, which is the founding text of ICC, not to cooperate in apprehending the Sudanese president.

However, Botswana dissented from the AU position and accused the Libyan leader Muammar Kaddafi of forcing the resolution upon the members without debates.

The Sudanese First Vice President Salva Kiir who is on a visit to Gaborone had lunch with Vice President Lt Gen. Mompati Merafhe, the Botswanaian foreign ministry said in a statement….”

 iv . “France seeks exclusion of Sudanese president from Egypt summit,” Sudan Tribune, 26 October 2009, http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article32927

“The French government is considering calling off the next Africa-France summit due to be held in the Egyptian Red Sea coastal city of Sharm El-Sheik next February, according to news report.

The ‘La Lettre du Continent’ newsletter based in Paris, reported that Egypt is unhappy because France does not want to give the green light to invite embattled Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir.

Last March the judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Bashir accusing him of masterminding a campaign to exterminate African tribes in Sudan’s Western region of Darfur.

The European Union (EU) charter prohibits contacts with individuals indicted by the Hague tribunal.

The Agence France Presse (AFP) said that the French interior minister Brice Hortefeux discussed the matter with Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak during their talks in Cairo today.

Diplomatic sources told AFP that participation of Bashir will embarrass Paris in light of the arrest warrant and also put Cairo, a strong backer of the Sudanese president, in an awkward position….”

 v. “Canada urged to take lead in halting Darfur slaughter”, Canada, October 2009, http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=679c7155-599b-4f13-852f-54c0de319937&k=60316

“Canada should take a leading role in bringing the continuing slaughter of millions of civilians in the Darfur region of Sudan to an end, Senator Roméo Dallaire said yesterday.

Dallaire, a retired Canadian Forces general who commanded the United Nations peacekeeping force in Rwanda during the Tutsi genocide in 1994, said Ottawa has shown no willingness to uphold the ‘responsibility to protect’ the doctrine that it came up with and convinced the United Nations to accept in 2005.

…Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, echoed Dallaire's sentiments, saying Canada also took a leading role in establishing the ICC.

‘What message does silence bring to the victims in Darfur, what message does the silence bring to the perpetrators?’ he said. ‘People need our help and attention now.’…”

Africa Union Security Council has 15 member states representing five regions. African leaders are expected in Abuja with AU Commission chief Jean Ping having left for Nigeria today….”

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