Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Saturday hailed the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) suspension of its investigations into alleged war crimes in Darfur, accusing the court of trying to “humiliate and subjugate” his nation.
Al-Bashir is wanted by the ICC over alleged war crimes in the western region, where the Sudanese government has been trying to crush an insurgency since 2003.
ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said on Friday that she was halting investigations, and criticized the UN Security Council for failing to push for al-Bashir’s arrest.
Photo: AFP
The decision came about “because of the Sudanese people’s refusal to be humiliated and to kneel down,” Sudan News Agency (SUNA) reported al-Bashir as saying during a speech in Khartoum.
He called the ICC one of the “tools aimed to humiliate and subjugate” Sudan, SUNA said.
Bensouda’s decision to halt the Darfur investigations comes amid rising difficulties for the court, which dropped charges of crimes against humanity against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Dec. 5.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Friday called on African nations to withdraw from the court, saying that the ICC had become a “tool to target” the continent.
Bensouda said that without action on Darfur from the Security Council, the cases against al-Bashir and three other indicted Sudanese suspects would remain deadlocked.
She also said that allegations of Sudanese forces raping 200 women and girls in a Darfur village in late October “should shock this council into action.”
Khartoum has refused to allow the UN-African Union mission in Darfur to fully investigate the incident since a first visit by peacekeepers to the village of Tabit last month took place under heavy Sudanese military presence.
Sudan has since asked the mission to form an exit strategy from the region, and al-Bashir on Saturday hinted that his government would not change its mind due to outside pressure.
“No one will impose their opinion on Sudan,” he was quoted as saying.
Darfur erupted into conflict in 2003 when ethnic insurgents rebelled against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum, saying that they were being marginalized.
The UN says the unrest in Darfur has killed 300,000 people and displaced 2 million, while the Sudanese government puts the death toll at about 10,000.
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