Friday, July 11, 2008

Backlash fears as Sudanese President faces Genocide Indictment

It is meaningless to indict a current ruler on crimes against humanity without moving to capture that individual. And why shouldn't Mugabe be indicted as well.

The UN is braced for a fierce backlash from the imminent indictment of the Sudanese president for genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

Omar al-Bashir will become the first sitting head of state and the first Arab leader to be charged by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which celebrates the 10th anniversary of its founding charter on Thursday.

Diplomats say Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the international prosecutor, will seek an arrest warrant for Mr al-Bashir from ICC judges in the Hague on Monday.

Thousands of UN peacekeepers in Sudan have regrouped and received extra provisions in recent days in anticipation of a hostile Sudanese response to the prosecutor’s move.

[...]Sudan has repeatedly threatened retaliation for charges being levelled against its leader after the slaughter in Darfur was referred to the ICC by the UN Security Council in March 2005.

UN officials fear the indictment, which must be approved by ICC judges, could precipitate the collapse of the fragile UN force in Darfur, where some 300,000 people have died since government-backed Janjaweed Arab militias began driving villagers from their homes in 2003.

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