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U.N. Urged to Persist With Sudan Leader's War Crimes Case
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court appealed to the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday to resist calls by African, Arab and Islamic states to defer prosecution of Sudanese leader Omar Hassan al-Bashir on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.The prosecutor, Argentine lawyer Luis Moreno-Ocampo, told the council that Bashir continues to oversee a campaign of mass murder in Darfur, in western Sudan, forcing more than 300,000 people from their homes this year and leaving as many as 5,000 people dead each month. "Genocide continues," Moreno-Ocampo told the 15-nation council. His remarks come about a month before ICC judges are expected to rule on a request by the prosecutor to issue an arrest warrant for Bashir, which would make him the first Arab leader indicted by an international court on war crimes charges. In recent months, Bashir has persuaded the African Union and the Arab League to press the Security Council to invoke a provision of the international court's charter -- Article 16 -- that allows it to defer action against an indictee. South Africa and Libya reiterated the call for postponement during Wednesday's session, saying such action could undermine peace talks. Sudan's U.N. ambassador, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad, said Moreno-Ocampo was an "unguided missile" who was pursuing a "politically motivated" campaign against Sudan's leader. "We all know that war brings with it atrocities, unfortunately, either in Darfur or in Iraq or in Liberia," he said. Posted by: Fred 2008-12-05 |
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