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Sudan: ICC Prosecutor Briefing to Security Council and Sudan Statement on Restricted Cooperation

14 Dec 2005

Following the briefing to the UN Security Council by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Mr. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, on 13 December 2005, there have been several media reports on the Prosecutor’s statement and report pursuant to Resolution 1593. Please find below a few relevant news articles with links to additional related reports. While some of the articles provide an overview of the Prosecutor’s statement as well as remarks made at the media stakeout, other articles report that Sudanese Justice Minister Mohammed Ali al-Mardi announced at the same time that Sudan would only cooperate with the ICC based on ‘talks’ and reiterated that “The ICC officials have no jurisdiction inside the Sudan.”

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 or pending situations before the Court. The Coalition, however, will continue to provide the most up-to-date information about the ICC.

Regards,
Esti T. Tambay
Information and Analysis Officer
Coalition for the International Criminal Court

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A. General Articles on Prosecutor’s Statement and Report to the Security Council

Associated Press, Edith Lederer, “International Court Forced to Investigate Alleged War Crimes in Darfur Outside Sudan because of Violence” – 14 December 2005
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5477982,00.html

“The U.N. war crimes tribunal has been forced to conduct its investigation of atrocities in Darfur outside Sudan because of the danger to potential witnesses, the chief prosecutor said Tuesday. Darfur's volatile security situation, resulting from continuing attacks and killings, has made it “impossible to go there to interview witnesses in Darfur itself,'' Luis Moreno Ocampo told the U.N. Security Council. Moreno Ocampo said his investigators have identified witnesses in 17 other countries. […]

Moreno Ocampo said the violence in Sudan “represents a serious impediment'' to Sudan's internal investigations. But he expressed confidence that his own investigation could be successfully completed with witnesses outside the country. “The evaluation is there is no area (in Sudan) in which they could be protected,'' he told reporters after the briefing. ``That's why (we are) doing the investigation from outside Sudan, and we will do it.''

After a public briefing, Moreno Ocampo met privately with the Security Council and elaborated on his initial findings. “What the prosecutor told us was that the nature of the attacks in Darfur demonstrated a degree of coordination, a degree of strategic operation which implied that someone was in command and control of that operation,'' said Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry, the current council president.

Moreno Ocampo said in the public briefing that a list of 51 potential suspects named by a U.N. investigative commission remains sealed “and is in no way binding'' for his own probe. The commission concluded in January that crimes against humanity had occurred in Darfur. He said his office will identify people to be prosecuted in coming months. […]”

Related Articles:
- Reuters, “Global court seeing Darfur witnesses outside Sudan”: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N13242748.htm
- UN News Service, “Sudan: witness protection vital for probe into Darfur rights abuses, UN reports”: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=16920&Cr=sudan&Cr1=
- Voice of America, “ICC Prosecutor Uncovers Evidence of Campaign of Atrocities in Darfur”: http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-12-13-voa81.cfm

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B. Sudan Government Statement on Limited or No Cooperation

Reuters, Opheera McDoom, “Sudan bars global court investigators from Darfur” – 13 December 2005
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/MCD344183.htm

“Sudan will not allow International Criminal Court investigators to enter its Darfur region to probe suspected war crimes committed during the conflict there, the justice minister said on Tuesday. Mohammed Ali al-Mardi spoke to Reuters as ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo told the U.N. Security Council that killings, mass rapes and other atrocities had been identified and some criminal incidents would be fully investigated. But Mardi said the ICC investigation, requested by the Security Council, was not necessary because the Sudanese judicial system was capable of trying any crimes in Darfur. "The ICC officials have no jurisdiction inside the Sudan or with regards to Sudanese citizens," Mardi told Reuters. "They cannot investigate anything on Darfur -- they have no jurisdiction. This is quite clear and they know it." […]

Mardi said the government had signed a memorandum of understanding with the ICC to cooperate on the arrest of the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), who are suspected of hiding in Sudan's lawless south. "We are already cooperating with them ... we are discussing with them what we have been doing in Darfur and our readiness to cooperate with them in arresting the leaders of the LRA." But cooperation on Darfur would be based on talks only, he said, without elaborating. Mardi said there was no evidence of any systematic killings or rape in Darfur and said a court established to try crimes in Darfur was capable of prosecuting any individuals responsible. He said no senior government or military officials were under investigation. […]

Mardi said an investigation had been completed into an attack on Hamada village in January in which rights groups said more than 60 civilians died and government Antonov aircraft bombed the area. But he said no officials had been investigated and the issue of why government planes were used to bombard the village would not be addressed when the case comes to court. "We don't ask why they were used -- we investigate complaints," he said. He added the only complaints brought before the court were by individuals complaining about tribal strife.”

Related Articles:
- BBC News, “Sudan bars atrocity probe”: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4526208.stm

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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 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