Listen: Deborah Amos talks with BBC's Geraldine Coughlan on 'Morning Edition' Listen: Deborah Amos talks with AFP's Jennie Matthew on 'Morning Edition' NPR.org, July 14, 2008 · Sudan's president has been charged with genocide by the International Criminal Court's prosecutor after an investigation into atrocities in the country's western Darfur province.
ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo asked the court for an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the first sitting head of state to be indicted by an international court since Liberia's Charles Taylor and Yugoslavia's Slobodan Milosevic.
Moreno-Ocampo said al-Bashir's arrest could prevent the slow deaths of more than 2 million people who have been forced from their homes and are still under attack from a government-backed militia.
Al-Bashir called the genocide allegation "lies" and said the ICC has no jurisdiction in Sudan.
"From the beginning, we said we are not a member of the court ... the court has no jurisdiction over Sudan," Bashir said in remarks carried on Sudan state television. "Whoever has visited Darfur, met officials and discovered their ethnicities and tribes ... will know that all of these things (including ethnic cleansing) are lies."
Fearing an upsurge in violence from an enraged al-Bashir and emboldened rebels in Darfur, aid organizations have tightened security in Sudan in recent days.
Judges in The Hague are expected to take months to study the evidence against the Sudanese president.
Prosecutor Seeks Arrest Of Sudan's President
The prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague has asked the court to issue an arrest warrant for the president of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir. It is the first time the court's prosecutor has filed charges against a sitting head of state.
Bashir is accused of orchestrating a five-year reign of terror in Sudan's Darfur region, where hundreds of thousands have been killed and even more have been driven from their homes. But the prosecutor's move is the first step in a long process that may not result in an arrest.
BBC correspondent Geraldine Coughlan in The Hague talks with NPR's Deborah Amos about the unprecedented move by the ICC.
Coughlan says the prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said he has enough evidence to show that Bashir bears criminal responsibility in relation to 10 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity — including murder, extermination, torture and rape — and other war crimes charges, including attacks on civilians and ethnic groups.
He spoke to the international media in The Hague for a long while Monday, detailing his investigations, the victims, their suffering and where they are now, Coughlan says.
Moreno-Ocampo asked a panel of three judges to issue the arrest warrant. The judges now will examine the prosecution's evidence from the investigation. "It took five years, so they have a lot of homework to do," Coughlan says, and then it could take weeks or months to determine whether the evidence provides firm enough legal basis to issue an arrest warrant.
The court has no police force to deliver an arrest warrant, however. If the judges do give the go-ahead, the ICC would have to go to the United Nations to ask for support services to help peacekeepers on the ground in Sudan carry out an arrest. But there are only 9,000 peacekeepers in Sudan — there are supposed to be 26,000 — so "the logistics and the tools are just not there at the moment," Coughlan says.
The European Union and the U.N. have expressed concern that the move complicates an already unstable situation in Sudan, putting U.N. peacekeepers and aid workers at increased risk of attack. And the African Union fears that an international prosecution could jeopardize the peace process there, Coughlan says.
Related NPR Stories
- July 11, 2008ICC May Seek Warrant For Sudan President
- July 9, 20087 Peacekeepers Killed In Darfur Ambush
- June 19, 2008U.N. Ambassador Khalilzad Surveys Darfur Crisis
- May 29, 2008Sudan Violence Tests U.S. Peace, Terrorism Policies
- July 14, 2008Sudan's President Faces Arrest In Darfur Violence
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