The chief prosecutor of the world’s first permanent war crimes tribunal said on Wednesday he may investigate alleged war crimes in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Luis Moreno-Ocampo said, however, he has rejected appeals to investigate allegations of war crimes by the United States or coalition forces in Iraq, because those complaints fell outside the jurisdiction of the newly created International Criminal Court.
Moreno-Ocampo said up to 5 000 civilians have been killed in tribal wars in DRC’s Ituri province since July 1, 2002, when the court came into existence and its jurisdiction began.
The prosecutor said detailed allegations had come from non-government organisations of starvation, killings, untreated injuries and the transmission of HIV/Aids through rape in Ituri.
Moreno-Ocampo said his first step would be to seek authorisation from the court’s judges to launch an investigation and to ask for more information from the United Nations and other organisations about events in the province.
Events in Iraq fell outside the court’s authority, Moreno-Ocampo said, since neither the United States nor Iraq is a party to the 1998 Rome Statute, the treaty that created the court.
US President George Bush’s administration fiercely opposes the court, fearing politically motivated indictments against Americans.
Under the Rome Statute, the court has jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed in any of the court’s 90 member countries, if that country cannot or will not prosecute suspects itself. Nonparty states can ask the court to intervene, as can the UN Security Council.
Among the 90 countries that ratified the treaty is the entire European Union and many of Washington’s allies, such as Canada and Australia.
Moreno-Ocampo said he had no detailed reports of atrocities by soldiers of other countries which have endorsed the treaty. – Sapa-AP