The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) top prosecutor called yesterday for the arrest of Sudan’s President Omar al-Beshir for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur.
Beshir had “masterminded and implemented” a plan to destroy a large portion of three ethnic groups in the western Sudanese region, prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said in a statement released in The Hague.
His appeal to the court’s judges marked the first ever request to the ICC for an arrest warrant against a sitting head of state.
PHOTO: AFP
Moreno-Ocampo’s bold move came despite fears and warnings that it could enflame tensions in Darfur and lead to the expulsion of aid workers and peacekeepers in Sudan’s troubled western region.
Sudan immediately rejected the call as damaging to Darfur peace hopes, but British Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged Khartoum to cooperate with the court.
In Cairo, the Arab League said foreign ministers are to hold an emergency meeting on Sudan on Saturday to discuss the prosecutor’s call.
The White House yesterday urged all parties “to remain calm,” in its first reaction to the prosecutor’s call.
The Argentine prosecutor told journalists after delivering the statement that “what happened in Darfur is a consequence of Beshir’s will.”
“The crime of genocide is a crime of intention. Beshir had the intention to destroy the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups,” engaged in a rebellion in Darfur.
“Beshir failed to defeat the armed movements so he went after the people. His motives were largely political. His alibi was a ‘counterinsurgency’. His intent was genocide,” the prosecutor said.
The prosecutor’s office said in a statement there were “reasonable grounds to believe Beshir bears criminal responsibility in relation to 10 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.”
Judges will now examine the application to ascertain whether reasonable grounds exist to believe that a crime within the court’s jurisdiction had been committed, before deciding whether to issue a warrant or not — a process that could take several months.
Moreno-Ocampo is insistent: “Beshir is the president. He is the commander in chief. Those are not just formal words. He used the whole state apparatus, he used the army, he enrolled the militia/Janjaweed. They all report to him. They all obey him. His control is absolute.”
Khartoum, which rejects the ICC’s jurisdiction, warned that the move could threaten peace efforts in Sudan’s long-running conflict.
A foreign ministry spokesman said the prosecutor’s move to indict Beshir “completely disregarded the efforts undertaken by the government, the regional powers and the international community [on Darfur].”
Ali al-Sadiq said the arrest call would only encourage Darfur rebels to launch attacks on the people of Darfur and on UN peacekeepers.
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