International Court presses case against Sudan leader

[Kentake]

Article written for: AFRIKAN AFFAIRS (local Afrikan community newspaper in Montreal, Quebec/Canada)
September 2008


The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor plans to meet with United Nations and African Union officials this week to discuss a possible war crimes case against Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir. An ICC statement Monday said prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo will be in New York to meet with leaders on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meeting. The prosecutor has accused Sudans' president of master-minding a campaign of rape, murder and deportation in the volatile Darfur region, and has asked the court to issue a warrant for Mr.Bashir's arrest. Mr.Bashir has denied the charges, and Sudan has refused to cooperate with the court. Sudanese officials also will be in New York this week, lobbying world leaders to block any move to prosecute Mr.Bashir. In a joint statement with South African president Thabo Mbeki last week, Mr.Bashir said war crimes proceedings against him would hurt peace efforts in Darfur. The Darfur conflict began in 2003, when militant African rebels took up arms against Sudan's Arab-led government and state-backed Arab militias. The United Nations says the state backed conflict has killed more than 200,000 people and displaced some 2.5 million others. Moreno-Ocampo said today that Mr. Bashir has "complete control" of his forces in Darfur, and said those forces are raping women, bombing schools and destroying entire communities.


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