ICC won't back down on Bashir

2008-07-17 21:13

New York - The International Criminal Court's prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said on Thursday he intends to proceed with charges against Sudan President Omar al-Bashir, who was accused of acts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur's ethnic conflict.

Moreno-Ocampo, speaking for the first time since he requested an arrest warrant for al-Bashir on Monday, proclaimed the ICC's and his own independence in legally pursuing the charges against the Sudanese leader.

"I am the prosecutor and I have to do my judicial part of the work for the court, and it will be up to the state parties to decide," he told a news conference at UN headquarters in New York.

"I kept my independence and I cannot be a political factor (in the peace process in Darfur)," he said when asked whether arresting al-Bashir would harm peace negotiations. "I had informed the political actors of my work."

Moreno-Ocampo declined to openly discuss the charges he made against al-Bashir, which he gave to a three-judge panel at The Hague when he requested the arrest warrant on Monday. He said there was no deadline for the panel to reply to his request.

Defer the legal process

The charges against the Sudanese president had provoked strong and adverse reactions from Khartoum, and concerns from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, that they might interfere with UN efforts to end the conflict through negotiations involving al-Bashir.

Diplomats at UN headquarters said some council members, including from China and a few African nations, may request the Security Council to ask the ICC to defer the legal process against al-Bashir for one year.

The ICC said postponing the case is a legal and permissible step allowed by the ICC convention. But the 15-nation council will have to adopt a resolution requesting the postponement, because it referred Darfur to the ICC also by a resolution.

Moreno-Ocampo asked the council last December to call on al-Bashir for the surrender of Ahmad Muhammad Harun, who was promoted as minister for humanitarian affairs after the ICC charged him with war crimes in Darfur in his capacity as the minister of the interior.

The prosecutor also asked for the surrender of Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman, a leader of the Arab militia known as Janjaweed, who had been fighting African rebel groups in Darfur. The Janjaweed were accused of the worst atrocities against Darfur's civilian population. - Sapa-dpa

- SAPA