Sudan rejects Arab League’s proposal over Bashir warrant

• The proposals, which included conducting internal trials for Darfur war crimes suspects rejected
• Sudanese official accused the ICC of targeting third world countries only.
• President al-Bashir, on first trip abroad since ICC moved to indict him, denied his forces had committed genocide
• African and Arab states are pushing for the suspension of moves by ICC

KHARTOUM, Wednesday - The Sudanese government for the first time unveiled disagreements with the Arab League on a plan it formulated to counter a move by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to indict Sudan’s president Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

In mid-July, the ICC’s prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo announced that he will seek an arrest warrant against Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes in Darfur.

Following the move, Sudan has been looking into ways that would allow it to avoid confrontation with the international community over the ICC.

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa carried a number of proposals to President al-Bashir last month which included conducting internal trials for Darfur war crimes suspects. These proposals were rejected.

Sudanese presidential adviser Mustafa Ismail was quoted by the daily Al-Hayat newspaper as telling reporters in Cairo after meeting with Mr Moussa “that there are some parts of the plan that need more discussions”.

Mr Ismail also insisted that the Sudanese judiciary is capable of looking into the Darfur war crimes and noted the recent appointment of a special prosecutor for Darfur by Sudan’s justice minister.

The Sudanese official also accused the ICC of targeting third world countries only.

“We did not see that the court looked into what superpowers did in Iraq, Palestine or Afghanistan” he said.

Mr Ismail reiterated his country’s refusal to hand over any Sudanese citizens abroad and stressed that local investigations into Darfur crimes “will not exclude the president, ministers or janitors”.

However Sudan’s presidential adviser refused to say what will be the next steps if an arrest warrant for al-Bashir is issued by the ICC.

Sudan’s appointment of a special prosecutor was seen as concession that would provide leverage to the Arab League and African Union (AU) when requesting a resolution from the UN Security Council (UNSC) deferring Al-Bashir’s indictment under Article 16 of the ICC Statute.

The Arab League and the African Union already have asked the Security Council to suspend the case for 12 months, something that only the UN body can do under the ICC statue.

Neo-colonialist agenda

Yesterday, President al-Bashir, on his first trip abroad since the ICC moved to indict him for war crimes, denied that his forces had committed genocide in Darfur, adds Reuters. President Bashir, who calls the court’s move part of a neo-colonialist agenda to protect the interests of developed countries, said that his government forces were not responsible for crimes in Darfur.

“We are not committing genocide in Darfur,” President Bashir told Turkish President Abdullah Gul during a meeting in Istanbul, according to a Turkish official close to the talks.

“We are saddened by the events there,” President Bashir was quoted as saying.

The two men, who met for 30 minutes in an Ottoman-era palace by the Bosphorus Strait on the sidelines of a Turkey-Africa economic summit, did not discuss the ICC or the case against Bashir.

Nato member Turkey has not ratified the treaty forming the ICC but is under pressure to become a member as part of negotiations to join the European Union.