ICC prosecutor honoured

2009-06-06 13:11

New York - Some refugees in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region have named their children "Okambo" as a tribute to the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, actress Mia Farrow said on Friday.

"I've met at least 100 babies named Ocampo," Farrow, a UN goodwill ambassador, told reporters following a UN Security Council meeting on Darfur. "They spell it Okambo. ... So the name has been Africanised."

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in March, charging him with masterminding mass killings and deportations in Darfur in western Sudan.

The Sudanese government has rejected Moreno-Ocampo's charges and is refusing to co-operate with the court.

Moreno-Ocampo was at the United Nations to update the Security Council on activities related to the Bashir case and five others he has submitted to the court on possible war crimes in Darfur.

Breaking with standard UN practice, Moreno-Ocampo stood beside Sudanese UN Ambassador Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem, one of his most vocal critics, as the envoy addressed reporters at a press stakeout after the meeting.

Officials waiting their turn to speak typically stand to the side, out of view of TV cameras.

'Not welcome'

"Mr Ocampo, you are not welcome in this place. You abuse the image of the United Nations," Abdalhaleem said, adding that Moreno-Ocampo was a "mercenary."

"Your dreams of publicity and media should come to an end also," he said.

Moreno-Ocampo said he had come to UN headquarters to talk about "crimes committed in Darfur".

Farrow went on a 12-day hunger strike in April and May to show solidarity with the people of Darfur. UN officials say as many as 300 000 people have been killed and more than 2.7 million driven from their homes in Darfur in almost six years of ethnic and political violence.

Khartoum says 10 000 people have died.

- Reuters