AlArabiya
ICC to indict Sudan's Bashir over Darfur: UN
Thursday, 12 February 2009

Judges at the International Criminal Court have decided to indict Sudan's president for war crimes in Darfur and issue a warrant for his arrest, United Nations diplomats and officials said on Wednesday.

"The ICC decided it wants him arrested," a diplomat at the U.N. told Reuters on condition of anonymity, referring to Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

Some U.N. officials also said they understood that to be the decision by the ICC, based in The Hague. They said it had been widely expected and would be made public later this month.

Quoting court lawyers and diplomats, the New York Times reported on its Website on Wednesday that the move by the panel of judges in The Hague marked the first time that the world's first independent, permanent tribunal on war crimes has sought the detention of a sitting head of state since it began its work in 2002.

War crimes
Last year, chief ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo asked the court's judges to indict Bashir for orchestrating what he described as a campaign of genocide in Sudan's western Darfur region that killed 35,000 people in 2003 and at least 100,000 more through starvation and disease.

Khartoum rejects the term genocide and says 10,000 people died in the conflict. U.N. officials say at least 2.5 million were left homeless and put the death toll as high as 300,000.

Sudan has ruled out handing over Bashir or two other Sudanese citizens previously indicted by the court for suspected war crimes in Darfur. But Bashir's ability to travel outside Sudan will likely become difficult once an international arrest warrant is issued.

An ICC spokeswoman declined to comment, saying the decision was in the hands of the judges. It was not immediately clear whether Bashir had been indicted on all 10 counts of genocide and other war crimes listed by the prosecutor or just some of them.

U.N. officials say at least 2.5 million were left homeless in Darfur
The New York Times quoted U.N. officials as saying the decision on the warrant was communicated to U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon and was expected to be formally announced at the court in the coming days.

But asked to comment on the report, U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said: "I can confirm that no decision has been received by the Secretary General. We do not anticipate receiving such communication and we do not normally receive such communication."

And Japan's UN Ambassador Yukio Takasu, the president of the Security Council this month, said: "The council has not been informed yet."

Cooperation with peacekeepers
Khartoum said it would continue cooperating with U.N. peacekeepers in Sudan even if Bashir is indicted, but has warned there may be widespread demonstrations of public outrage.

Sudan's U.N. ambassador, Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem, dismissed the decision of the court.

"It will mean nothing to us and doesn't deserve ink with which it is written," he told Reuters. "We will never be shaken by this criminal attempt to pollute our political life and sabotage our efforts for development and peace."

Some U.N. officials worry the Sudanese government might encourage reprisals against international peacekeepers. Ban said on Tuesday that Bashir and his government must "react very responsibly and ensure safety of (U.N.) peacekeepers."

The secretary-general met Bashir on the sidelines of an African Union summit in Addis Ababa last week.

U.N. officials said blue helmet peacekeepers in Darfur had no mandate to act on ICC arrest warrants in Sudan but would go about their business of protecting civilians there.

Time to shun Bashir
Save Darfur Coalition of over 180 organizations and activist groups issued a statement saying it was time for the world to shun Bashir.

"A regime led by an indicted war criminal cannot possibly be treated as a full member of the community of nations," it said. "The international community must press Sudanese authorities to comply with their obligations to cooperate with the ICC, including executing all outstanding warrants."

"At a minimum, countries should not allow him to travel to their territory and should limit diplomatic interaction with him in Khartoum to efforts to end the crisis in Darfur and bring peace to all of Sudan," the statement said.
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/02/12/66281.html

The Earth Times
Report: Warrant to be issued for Sudanese President Bashir – Summary
Thu, 12 Feb 2009

New York/The Hague - A panel of judges at the International Criminal Court in The Hague has decided to issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, The New York Times reported on its website Thursday, citing court lawyers and diplomats. At United Nations headquarters in New York, spokeswoman Marie Okabe denied the Times' report that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had been notified by the court that a warrant would be issued.

"No decision has been received by the secretary general," she said late Wednesday. "We do not anticipate receiving such communication. We do not normally receive decisions of the court."

On Monday, an ICC spokeswoman in The Hague had said that a decision on the arrest warrant was likely within weeks, not days.

The warrant arises from a request in July by ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo for Bashir's arrest on allegations of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan's western Darfur region, where an ethnic conflict has raged since 2003.

The charges to be included in the warrant were not immediately reported. The arrest warrant would be the first issued by the ICC for a sitting head of state.

Sudanese UN Ambassador Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem called a possible arrest warrant an "insult" to Sudan.

"It will mean nothing to us and does not deserve the ink with which it is written," he said late Wednesday.

The African Union and Arab diplomats have warned that attempts to prosecute Bashir would complicate the Darfur peace process.

The United Nations Security Council, which referred the Darfur case to the ICC for prosecution, has the power to halt the prosecution but has refused to intervene.

The Security Council plans to meet later Thursday with representatives of the African Union and Arab League to discuss the Darfur issue, according to Japanese Ambassador Yukio Takasu, who hold the council's rotating presidency this month. He said late Wednesday that there had been no confirmation of an ICC arrest warrant for Bashir.

"The mood in the council is to be prepared and deal with it when it comes," Takasu said. "We are getting lots of news and indications, but nothing official yet."

An estimated 300,000 people have died in the Darfur conflict, and millions of refugees have fled.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/255401,report-warrant-to-be-issued-for-sudanese-president-bashir--summary.html