The UN handed prosecutors from the International Criminal Court thousands of documents and a list of 51 people to be investigated for alleged war crimes in Sudan's conflict-wracked Darfur region.
UN officials moved quickly to provide possible evidence to prosecutors following last Thursday's vote by the UN Security Council to refer cases of alleged rape, murder, village burnings and other atrocities to the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal.
At the court's headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands, deputy prosecutor Serge Brammertz on Tuesday received nine boxes containing thousands of documents gathered last year by a special UN commission that investigated mass killings and atrocities in Darfur. They were driven overnight from Geneva, where the UN has its European headquarters.
Hours later in New York, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan handed chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo a sealed brown envelope containing a list of 51 people linked to the Darfur conflict that the commission recommended should stand trial. UN officials have said the list includes Sudanese government officials, rebels, and government-backed Arab militiamen known as Janjaweed.
"To protect life, the international community has joined together to end impunity in Darfur," Moreno-Ocampo said in a statement he read to reporters Tuesday. "My duty in this common task is to investigate the crimes and to respect the interests of the victims."
Before starting his investigation, the prosecutor said, he will analyze the documents and assess the alleged crimes and admissibility of the cases. He urged individuals, governments and organizations with information on wrongdoing in Darfur to provide it to his office.
The vast western Sudanese region of Darfur is the scene of one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. An estimated 180,000 people have died in the upheaval -- many from hunger and disease -- and about 2 million others have been displaced since the conflict began in February 2003.
The Darfur conflict erupted when rebels took up arms against what they saw as years of state neglect and discrimination against Sudanese of African origin. The government is accused of responding with a counterinsurgency campaign in which the Arab Janjaweed militia committed wide-scale abuses against the African population.
The UN commission concluded in January that crimes against humanity -- but not genocide -- occurred in Darfur and recommended that cases of alleged atrocities since July 1, 2002 be referred to the International Criminal Court, known as the ICC.
A Security Council resolution implementing the commission's recommendation ran into immediate difficulty because the US is vehemently opposed to the International court, claiming US citizens could be subject to politically motivated or frivolous prosecutions.
But Washington relented after weeks of negotiation. The US obtained controversial concessions which guaranteed that citizens of countries not party to the ICC working in Sudan would not be handed over to either the ICC or any other nation's courts if they commit crimes in Sudan. As a result of the guarantees, the US abstained along with Algeria, Brazil and China and the resolution was approved 11-0.
The Sudanese government denies allegations that it is of aiding the Janjaweed. Sudanese hard-liners have vowed to defy the UN resolution, saying it was unfair for Sudanese suspects to face The Hague tribunal when US citizens are exempt.
Moreno-Ocampo noted that Sudanese authorities have reported starting investigations of alleged crimes in Darfur, which he said in the statement "could be very important." But the prosecutor refused to answer any questions, including how he planned to deal with the Sudanese government's opposition to the ICC.
The ICC was created to prosecute individual perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide committed after July 2002. It is investigating cases in Congo and Uganda but has not yet launched any prosecutions.
Richard Dicker, head of the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch, said crimes in Darfur "will be a difficult, difficult matter to investigate and bring to trial because of the stated opposition of the Sudanese authorities to cooperation."
"It is an enormous challenge for the prosecutor of this court," Dicker said. "This is the World Series here. ... We're looking for him to conduct an efficient, effective investigation."
Brammertz, the ICC's deputy prosecutor, said prosecutors would not necessarily follow the UN's findings either in terms of suspects or crimes to be prosecuted.
Sources within the ICC told reporters last week that around two dozen prosecution investigators are preparing to travel to Sudan.
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