Britain, France and the United States are up against a united front of African and Muslim countries, backed by China and Russia, over the imminent indictment of Sudan’s President, Omar al-Bashir, for war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Darfur.
Diplomatic sources said a pre-trial panel of three judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague was expected to authorise an arrest warrant within two weeks. Bashir will be the first head of state to be charged by the ICC since it was founded in 2002.
The African Union, the Arab League, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, an influential United Nations bloc of developing nations known as the Group of 77 and China have backed Sudan’s calls for the prosecution to be dropped, with some officials arguing that it smacks of ‘white man’s justiceâ€.
They say an attempt to arrest Bashir could destabilise Sudan and endanger international aid and peacekeeping missions. An estimated 200 000 people have died and 2,7-million have been displaced since fighting erupted in Darfur in 2003.
The UN has more than 20 000 personnel in Sudan, including two peacekeeping missions, while hundreds of NGOs and aid agencies operate there.
Sudanese officials say they cannot be held responsible if the UN or foreign organisations become the focus of ‘public outrage†over an indictment.
Western diplomats say any decision to freeze or drop the case could destroy the ICC’s credibility and force chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo to resign. Yet a decision to go ahead could permanently alienate African and other countries that have signed the ICC treaty.
Britain, France and the US point to the support of Latin American states, Japan, other European countries for the ICC case.
In a unanimous statement issued at this month’s summit in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, the AU expressed ‘deep concern†at the impending indictment, warning it could seriously undermine efforts to end the Darfur conflict.
‘If the court is allowed to go ahead, it will cause lots of trouble for the whole Horn of Africa region. Sudan is big. It touches everyone,†said a senior diplomat from one of Sudan’s neighbours.
British and French officials and diplomats insist they will not support attempts to freeze the ICC process under a UN security council procedure known as an Article 16 deferral. Lord Malloch-Brown, Britain’s minister for Africa, said last week that a deferral was ‘completely unlikelyâ€.
The US has not signed the ICC’s founding treaty but strongly supports the case against Bashir. It backed two previous ICC indictments of Sudanese officials over Darfur, including war crimes charges against former interior minister Ahmad Muhammad Harun. Neither suspect has been handed over.
The Obama administration has taken a tougher line on Sudan than its predecessors. Susan Rice, its new ambassador to the UN, condemned ‘the ongoing genocide in Darfur†in her first press conference, and said efforts to support Unamid, the UN’s military mission in Darfur, were a top priority.
‘We’ll continue to look at what is necessary to deal with any obstruction, continued violence or reprisals that may occur … as a result of a potential indictment,†she said.
She drew attention to new fighting around Muhajiriya, in southern Darfur, between government and rebel forces. UN officials and rebel spokesmen have suggested the surge in violence is the government’s response to the looming Bashir indictment.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he had personally urged Bashir to eschew reprisals at the AU summit.
Sudanese spokesmen maintain Bashir will never surrender to the court. —