Genocide? Don't look to the UN for help

theist · December 13, 2006

BBC news

UN body to probe abuses in Darfur

The UN Human Rights Council has agreed to send a team to investigate abuses in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region. The world's top human rights body, which was set up this year, has been heavily criticised for its reticence on the Darfur issue.

The decision was made during the second day of an emergency session in Geneva on Sudan.

An estimated 200,000 people have died in Darfur since 2003, when rebels took up arms against the government.

More than two million people, mostly black Africans whose villages have been attacked by the Arab Janjaweed militias, have fled their homes.

</td> <td class="fact">  It is essential that this council send a clear and united message to warn all concerned

Kofi Annan

UN Secretary-General  </td> </tr> </tbody></table>

On Tuesday, the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the 47-member council to send a team to investigate abuses in Darfur.

"It is urgent that we take action to prevent further violations, including by bringing to account those responsible for the numerous crimes that have already been committed," Mr Annan said in a recorded message.

"It is essential that this council send a clear and united message to warn all concerned, on behalf of the whole world, that the current situation is simply unacceptable and will not be allowed to continue," he said.

Rejection

The Sudanese government has rejected a UN Security Council resolution authorising the deployment of UN troops and police to Darfur.

</td> <td class="fact">

</td> </tr> </tbody></table>

Khartoum denies accusations that it is backing the militias to put down the uprising and says the scale of the crisis has been exaggerated. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir said recently that only 9,000 had been killed during the Darfur conflict.

A small force of 7,000 African Union (AU) peacekeepers has struggled to protect civilians in the absence of a UN contingent.

Two AU peacekeepers were kidnapped in the North Darfur capital, El Fasher, on Saturday, the AU says.

There have been fierce clashes between rebels and the Janjaweed in and around El Fasher in recent days.

Sudan has agreed to let the UN provide logistical support to a larger AU force, but refuses to allow UN forces into Darfur.

The human rights council cannot force Sudan to accept UN peacekeeping troops.

But human rights groups say a resolution sending the UN's top human rights experts to Darfur to investigate would have moral authority.

----------

"It is essential that this council send a clear and united message to warn all concerned

Kofi Annan

UN Secretary-General"

Kofi Annan. This guy is such a buffoon. The entire UN is a farce. We can put our faith in only one Protector.

krsna · July 14, 2008

Sudanese president charged with genocide

<LI _extended="true">Sudanese president charged with genocide for campaign of violence in Darfur
<LI _extended="true">Omar Hassan al-Bashir is first sitting president to be indicted for genocide
<LI _extended="true">Sudan: Possible international prosecution stupid and malicious
About 300,000 have died in Darfur, U.N. says; 2.5 million forced from homes

........ language=JavaScript type=text/javascript _extended="true">var clickExpire = "-1";.........>

(CNN) -- The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has filed genocide charges against Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for a five-year campaign of violence in Darfur.

About 1,000 Sudanese rallied in Khartoum Sunday against the possible charges.

........ type=text/javascript _extended="true"> var CNN_ArticleChanger = new CNN_imageChanger('cnnImgChngr','/2008/WORLD/africa/07/14/darfur.charges/imgChng/p1-0.init.exclude.html',3,1);//CNN.imageChanger.load('cnnImgChngr','imgChng/p1-0.exclude.html');.........>They include masterminding attempts to wipe out African tribes in the war-torn region with a campaign of murder, rape and deportation.

ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo presented his evidence against al-Bashir to the judges at the Hague in the Netherlands on Monday.

The judges must now decide whether to issue the warrant, and it is widely expected that they will; the judges have approved all 11 of Moreno-Ocampo's previous submissions to the court.

If issued, the warrant would make al-Bashir the first sitting president to be indicted by the ICC for genocide.

In his request, Moreno-Ocampo says there are reasonable grounds to believe that al-Bashir bears criminal responsibility for five counts of genocide, two counts of crimes against humanity, and two counts of war crimes.

The alleged crimes stem from a brutal counter-insurgency campaign the Sudanese government conducted after rebels began an uprising in Sudan's western Darfur region in 2003. The United States and much of the world has already characterized the campaign as genocide.

The authorities armed and cooperated with Arab militias that went from village to village in Darfur, killing, torturing and raping residents there, according to the United Nations, western governments and human rights organizations. The militias targeted civilian members of tribes from which the rebels draw strength.

About 300,000 people have died in Darfur, the United Nations estimates, and 2.5 million have been forced from their homes.

Moreno-Ocampo says al-Bashir targeted three ethnic groups living in the region -- including the Fur group, for whom Darfur is named -- solely on account of their ethnicity.

Al-Bashir bears responsibility, Moreno-Ocampo says, because he sat at the apex of the government.

"For such crimes to be committed over a period of five years and throughout Darfur, al-Bashir had to mobilize and keep mobilized the whole state apparatus; he had to control and direct perpetrators; and he had to rely on a genocidal plan," Moreno-Ocampo wrote as background for arrest warrant request.

Sudan's ambassador to the United Nations has already condemned the charges.

"It is a criminal move that should be resisted by all," Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad said Friday amid reports that the charges were imminent. "We will resist it by all possible legal means."

Mohamad accused Moreno-Ocampo of "playing with fire."

In Khartoum, a crowd of about 2,000 people greeted al-Bashir, who seized power in a 1989 coup, when he arrived for an emergency meeting of his Cabinet Sunday to discuss the charges.

When he saw the crowd, al-Bashir climbed onto a pickup truck and pumped his fist in the air, whipping the group into a frenzy.

Some held signs saying, "You are joking... Ocamp-who?" and "Death to America."

A high-ranking ambassador at the presidential palace called the possible prosecution stupid and malicious, and warned that the Sudanese people would see it as proof of a larger conspiracy against the country.

In an exclusive interview with CNN's Nic Robertson at the Hague, the prosecutor said he had a responsibility to bring charges against al-Bashir.

"The (U.N.) Security Council referred the case to me and requested me to investigate," Moreno-Ocampo said. Read a transcript of the interview

"After three years I have strong evidence that al-Bashir is committing a genocide. I cannot be blackmailed, I cannot yield. Silence never helped the victims. Silence helped the perpetrators. The prosecutor should not be silent."

In 2005, the Security Council cleared the way for possible war crimes prosecutions related to Darfur by the ICC, a permanent tribunal set up to handle prosecutions related to genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The court is based on a treaty signed by 106 nations -- excluding Sudan.

In addition to Sudan, ICC prosecutors are investigating offenses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, and the Central African Republic.

The attacks in Darfur over the past five years have followed a common pattern, Moreno-Ocampo's evidence says.

Members of Sudan's armed forces, often acting together with the militias and under al-Bashir's command, singled out villages and towns inhabited by tribal groups. Troops and militia members shot and killed civilians, and sometimes the Sudanese air force was called in to bomb villages and towns in support of the ground forces, the prosecutor's evidence says.

Residents who fled were often chased and attacked or left to fend for themselves in the wilderness, the evidence says.

The attacks, it says, undermined the ability of the targeted groups to survive in Darfur. The destruction of their homes scattered entire communities, and the pervasive rape and sexual violence against girls and women -- who are often targeted when they are out collecting firewood or water -- has torn families apart. Watch how UNICEF is trying to prevent rape in Darfur

"They are raping women, raping girls, raping in groups -- raping to destroy the communities," he told CNN. "Rape is a tool in the genocide -- the most important tool today."

The chief U.N. humanitarian coordinator, John Holmes, said Friday that aid workers were already preparing for the effects of an arrest warrant against al-Bashir, making sure staff members are safe.

Moreno-Ocampo said any attacks on peacekeepers would be another reason to bring al-Bashir to justice.

The ICC has already indicted two men for Darfur crimes -- Ahmad Harun, Sudan's former minister of the interior who is now in charge of humanitarian affairs for the Sudanese government and militia leader Ali Kushayb -- but neither has been brought to justice.

Once the ICC indicts someone, authorities in that person's native country -- or the country in which the indicted person is located -- have the power to detain the indicted person for trial at the Hague.

Kushayb and Harun both remain in Sudan where they enjoy the protection of al-Bashir, Moreno-Ocampo said. Since they have not been arrested, the prosecutor says, it is unlikely al-Bashir will be -- and he says it will probably take a U.N. Security Council resolution for al-Bashir to be brought to justice.

Senior Sudanese government leaders have previously told CNN that reports of atrocities in Darfur are exaggerated.

"Yes, there has been a war and some people have died, but it's not like what has been reflected in the media," Interior Minister Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid said last month

krsna · July 14, 2008

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has filed genocide and war crimes charges against the Sudanese president.

Omar Hassan al-Bashir with supporters in Khartoum

Omar Hassan al-Bashir is accused of masterminding attempts to wipe out African tribes in Darfur with a campaign of murder, rape and deportation.

Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has asked judges to issue an arrest warrant for al-Bashir to prevent the deaths of another 2.5 million people in Darfur from government-backed Janjaweed militia.

It is the first time the ICC has charged a sitting head of state.

The prosecutor said in a statement that al-Bashir "wants to end the history of the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa people. I don't have the luxury to look away. I have evidence".

"His motives were largely political. His alibi was a 'counterinsurgency.' His intent was genocide," the statement said.

However, Sky's Africa correspondent Emma Hurd said that as Sudan does not recognise the ICC, any arrest warrant that may be issued could result in nothing.

She added that there were also concerns for peace negotiations.

Sudanese support for the president

"Al-Bashir's opponents inside Sudan are worried about what this may mean," she said.

"They say this may mean justice for Darfur but may stand in the way of peace.

"So it's a controversial indictment, it is certainly standing on the principle of the criminal court, but it may only complicate the issue in Darfur."

In an interview before the charges were filed, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said he was "very worried" by the possibility of al-Bashir's indictment.

"It would have very serious consequences for peacekeeping operations, including the political process," he told France's Le Figaro newspaper.

"I'm very worried, but nobody can evade justice."

Ten charges were filed: three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of murder.

Judges are expected to take months to study the evidence before deciding whether to order al-Bashir's arrest.

At the weekend, hundreds of Sudanese rallied in support of al-Bashir, who seized power in a 1989 coup.

Many held up banners denouncing Mr Moreno-Ocampo.

International experts estimate about 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been driven from their homes since rebels took up arms in early 2003, accusing the central government of neglect.