ICC Prosecutor Charges Sudan's President with Genocide
By VOA News
13 July 2008
The International Criminal Court's, ICC, prosecutor has filed charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo Monday accused Mr. Bashir of masterminding a campaign of murder, rape and forced deportation against the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa tribes in Sudan's Darfur region.
Moreno-Ocampo asked a three-judge panel at the court to issue an arrest warrant for Mr. Bashir to prevent the deaths of those still under attack in Darfur from the government-backed Janjaweed militia.
Khartoum rejects the ICC's jurisdiction, but Sudan's Foreign Ministry spokesman told the Reuters news agency Monday that Sudan will continue with the Darfur peace process, and will protect all U.N. personnel in the country.
Arab League officials say Arab foreign ministers will hold an emergency meeting Saturday to discuss the charges against President Bashir.
Mr. Bashir is the first sitting head of state to be indicted by an international court since Liberia's Charles Taylor and Yugoslavia's Slobodan Milosevic.
The crimes committed in the Darfur region have left hundreds of thousands of people dead since 2003. In Khartoum Sunday, thousands of people shouting anti-American slogans joined a demonstration in protest against the expected arrest warrants.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Sunday that he was concerned by a declaration made by the Permanent Representative of Sudan, which linked the initiative of the ICC prosecutor with the two U.N. peacekeeping operations deployed to Sudan.
The United Nations has tightened security for its staff in Sudan, fearing a violent backlash with the indictment of Mr. Bashir.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
