THE HAGUE, Netherlands - The International Criminal Court will launch a formal investigation into allegations of war crimes in Sudan's troubled Darfur region, officials familiar with the case said.
The court has been analyzing the situation in Darfur since the United Nations referred to it allegations of rape, murder and plunder in April, following a UN Security Council vote. Dozens of court officials have begun preparing for the investigation, the largest and most important yet to be handled by the fledgling body since it was established in July 2002.
| And they've obviously got all the speed and zeal of Carla del Ponte ... |
Prosecutors were to announce the decision to move forward in Darfur on Monday, and Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo will brief the UN about his plans later this month in New York, the officials said on Sunday, adding that they could not comment officially until the investigation had been formally announced by the court.
Investigators have said they hope to move quickly and complete their work over a period of months, rather than decades years. Once they have gathered evidence and interviewed witnesses, court officials will then consider issuing indictments against individual suspects and seek their extradition to The Hague.
| It's going to be a little hard for the surviving witnesses to identify the perps, other than as cruel, murderous, swarthy Arab males with guns ... |
The referral of the Darfur case was made possible when the United States - which fiercely opposes The Hague-based court - backed away from exercising its veto powers as a permanent member of the Security Council.
| I think GWB is planning to have the international community misunderestimate him again -- he'll give the ICC plenty of rope to hang itself. Once they demonstrate themselves to be completely incapable of dealing with the genocide of Darfur, we can politely ignore it. |
Washington, which says it fears the court will initiate bogus charges against American nationals, has actively undermined it by signing nearly 100 bilateral treaties with countries that have agreed not to surrender US citizens to the court.
| Given Amnesia International's call for countries to arrest Americans, our concerns aren't so far-fetched, are they? |
A special UN commission of inquiry on Darfur, which spent several months gathering evidence of war crimes, handed the court its findings, including a list of 51 potential suspects.
Trials are planned for later this year at the International Criminal Court against alleged perpetrators of war crimes in two other violence-wracked African nations, Uganda and Congo.
| Wonder when they'll indict King Leopold? |
The court is intended to step in only when countries themselves are unable or unwilling to take action against war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed on their soil. |