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Wanted for war crimes in Darfur: Sudan's president
2009-03-04
THE HAGUE, Netherlands - The president of Sudan became a wanted man Wednesday when the International Criminal Court charged him with war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur -- its first action against a sitting head of state and one that could set the stage for more world leaders to be indicted. Muzi.com News 10088824-1 (muzi.com)President Omar al-Bashir's government retaliated by expelling 10 humanitarian groups from Darfur and seizing their assets, threatening lifesaving operations, a U.N. spokeswoman said. Muzi.com News 10088824-2 (muzi.com) Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the United States supported the court's action "to hold accountable those who are responsible for the heinous crimes in Darfur." Up to 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million have fled their homes in the region. Muzi.com News 10088824-3 (muzi.com) U.N. officials in Sudan will continue to deal with al-Bashir because he remains the president of the country, U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said in New York. Muzi.com News 10088824-4 (muzi.com) In the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, the government denounced the warrant as part of a Western conspiracy aimed at destabilizing the vast oil-rich nation south of Egypt. "There will be no recognition of or dealing with the white man's court, which has no mandate in Sudan or against any of its people," the Information Ministry said. Muzi.com News 10088824-5 (muzi.com) Several thousand people waving pictures of al-Bashir and denouncing the court turned out in a rally in Khartoum. Some waved posters of chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo's face with pig ears superimposed to chants of, "Cowardly pig, you will not get to the Sudan." Muzi.com News 10088824-6 (muzi.com) Al-Bashir, who denies the accusations, drove through the capital after the warrant was announced, waving at crowds. Security was tightened at many embassies, and some diplomats and aid workers stayed home amid fears of retaliation against Westerners. Muzi.com News 10088824-7 (muzi.com) The decision by the court lays the groundwork for potential indictments of other heads of state who have been mentioned as possible targets of war crimes investigations, including leaders of other African nations and Israel. Muzi.com News 10088824-8 (muzi.com) "Head of state immunity no longer is a bar to prosecuting heads of state who commit war crimes and crimes against humanity during their time in office," said David Crane, an international law professor at Syracuse University and former prosecutor of the Sierra Leone tribunal that indicted Liberian President Charles Taylor and put him on trial in The Hague. Slobodan Milosevic was indicted while still president of Yugoslavia in 1999 by the tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Muzi.com News 10088824-9 (muzi.com) Both Milosevic and Taylor were indicted by temporary courts. Wednesday's ruling is significant because the International Criminal Court is permanent. Muzi.com News 10088824-10 (muzi.com) Crane said the principle could even extend to former U.S. President George W. Bush over claims officials from his former administration may have engaged in torture by using coercive interrogation techniques on terror suspects. Muzi.com News 10088824-11 (muzi.com) Congressional Democrats and other critics have charged that some of the harsh interrogation techniques amounted to torture, a contention that Bush and other officials rejected. Muzi.com News 10088824-12 (muzi.com) The prospect of The Hague-based court ever trying Bush is considered extremely remote. The U.S. government does not recognize the court and the only other way it could be investigated is if the Security Council were to order it, something unlikely to happen with Washington a veto-wielding permanent member of the council. Muzi.com News 10088824-13 (muzi.com) The Security Council adopted a resolution ordering the International Criminal Court to investigate Darfur in 2005, leading to the charges against al-Bashir even though Sudan does not recognize the court's jurisdiction. Muzi.com News 10088824-14 (muzi.com) Richard Dicker, director of the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch, said the ruling would likely fuel discussion about investigations of possible crimes by Bush administration officials. Muzi.com News 10088824-15 (muzi.com) Moreno Ocampo had accused Sudanese troops and the janjaweed Arab militia they support of murdering civilians and preying on them in refugee camps. He said the militia also waged a campaign of rape to drive women into the desert, where they die of starvation. Muzi.com News 10088824-16 (muzi.com) ICC spokeswoman Laurence Blairon said that in issuing the warrant for the arrest of al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity, the three-judge panel said he is suspected of responsibility for "intentionally directing attacks against an important part of the civilian population of Darfur, Sudan, murdering, exterminating, raping, torturing and forcibly transferring large numbers of civilians, and pillaging their property." Muzi.com News 10088824-17 (muzi.com) But the judges said there was insufficient evidence to support charges of genocide. Muzi.com News 10088824-18 (muzi.com) If al-Bashir is brought to trial and prosecuted, he faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Muzi.com News 10088824-19 (muzi.com) The U.N. said the humanitarian groups Sudan had ordered expelled include Oxfam, Solidarities, Doctors Without Borders, CARE and Mercy Corps, and seized assets. Muzi.com News 10088824-20 (muzi.com) U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the move a "serious setback to lifesaving operations in Darfur," according to U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe. Muzi.com News 10088824-21 (muzi.com) Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha confirmed that 10 "associations" were asked to stop operating in Sudan. He said they used humanitarian aid "as a cover" to conceal a political agenda. Muzi.com News 10088824-22 (muzi.com) African and Arab nations fear the warrant will destabilize the whole region, bring even more conflict in Darfur, and threaten the fragile peace deal that ended decades of civil war between northern and southern Sudan. China, which buys two-thirds of Sudan's oil, supports the African and Arab positions. Muzi.com News 10088824-23 (muzi.com) Some African nations reportedly threatened to pull out of the court in retaliation for a warrant. Thirty African countries are among the court's 108 member states. Muzi.com News 10088824-24 (muzi.com) In a show of defiance Tuesday in anticipation of the decision, al-Bashir told supporters, "We are telling them to immerse it in water and drink it," a common Arabic insult meant to show extreme disrespect. Muzi.com News 10088824-25 (muzi.com) Efforts to arrest the president could be put in the spotlight later this month, with al-Bashir still planning to travel to Doha, Qatar, to attend an Arab Summit. Muzi.com News 10088824-26 (muzi.com) "With this warrant the International Criminal Court has essentially put out a wanted poster for President Omar al-Bashir," said Dicker, the HRW official. Muzi.com News 10088824-27 (muzi.com) Crane predicted al-Bashir would eventually end up in The Hague. Muzi.com News 10088824-28 (muzi.com) "Omar al-Bashir will notice his standing in the world, his place in the African Union as well as his political support at home will begin to soften and dry up," Crane said by telephone. "People do not like to be seen dealing with an indicted war criminal." Muzi.com News 10088824-29 (muzi.com) Al-Bashir refuses to deal with the court, and there is no international mechanism to arrest him. The main tool the court has is diplomatic pressure for countries to hand over suspects. Muzi.com News 10088824-30 (muzi.com) Moreno Ocampo suggested al-Bashir could be arrested if he flies out of Sudan. Muzi.com News 10088824-31 (muzi.com) "As soon as Mr. al-Bashir travels in international airspace, his plane could be intercepted and he could be arrested. That is what I expect," the prosecutor said. Muzi.com News 10088824-32 (muzi.com) "Like Slobodan Milosevic or Charles Taylor, Omar al-Bashir's destiny is to face justice," Moreno Ocampo said. Muzi.com News 10088824-33 (muzi.com) Sudan refuses to arrest suspects, and U.N. peacekeepers and other international agencies in the country have no mandate to implement the warrant, and Sudanese officials have warned them not to try. Muzi.com News 10088824-34 (muzi.com) Asked why the judges did not issue the warrant for genocide, Blairon said genocide requires a clear intention to destroy in part or as a whole a specific group, and prosecution evidence failed to prove that intent. Muzi.com News 10088824-35 (muzi.com) She said prosecutors could ask again for genocide charges to be added to the warrant if they can produce new evidence. Moreno Ocampo said he would study the ruling before deciding whether to keep pursuing genocide charges. Muzi.com News 10088824-36 (muzi.com) The war in Sudan's western Darfur region began in 2003, when rebel ethnic African groups, complaining of discrimination and neglect, took up arms against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum. Muzi.com News 10088824-37 (muzi.com) ___ Muzi.com News 10088824-38 (muzi.com) Associated Press Writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Sarah El-Deeb in Khartoum, Sudan, contributed to this report. Muzi.com News 10088824-39 (muzi.com)
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