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For the first time, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant against a sitting head of state, President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan. President Bashir is accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes in the western region of Darfur. He is charged with five counts of crimes against humanity, including murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture and rape, and two of war crimes, attacks against a civilian population and for pillaging, though he will not face a charge of genocide. Bashir is responsible for "exterminating, raping and forcibly transferring a large numbers of civilians." Three ethnic groups have been specifically targeted by Bashir to be exterminated - the Fur, the Masalit and the Zaghawa.
Despite the wide-spread publicity of atrocities committed in Darfur, Bashir insisted that "any decision by the International Criminal Court has no value for us. It will not be worth the ink it is written on." Khartoum, Sudan's capital, equates the warrant with an attempt at regime change.
Although the ICC does not have the ability to enforce its own warrants, suspects can be arrested on the territory of states that have signed up to the court's founding Rome Statute.
The arrest warrant for President Bashir followed arrest warrants issued by the ICC in 2007 for former Sudanese Minister of State for the Interior Ahmad Harun and Janjawid militia leader Ali Kushayb, neither of whom the Sudanese government has surrendered.
The six-year conflict in Darfur was organized by Bashir and other high-ranking political and military leaders, coordinating attacks by the militia known as janjaweed against the non-Arab population. The UN estimates that since 2003, "when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated regime for a greater share of resources and power," 300,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been displaced.
There is a question of whether genocide occurred in Darfur. In a vote of 2-to-1, the judges of the ICC claimed that "the prosecutor had not provided sufficient evidence of the government's intent, the key issue in determining genocide." Although many humanitarian and human rights organizations, as well as countries such as the United States, insist that genocide did happen, the UN has refused to acknowledge the situation, mostly due to pressure by China. Many fear that the arrest warrant would provoke more violence rather than stop the devastation of Darfur.
* Simons, Marlise. "International Criminal Court Issues Arrest Warrant for Sudanese President" International Herald Tribune 4 Mar 2009.
* "Don't Defer Justice" Amnesty International
Despite the wide-spread publicity of atrocities committed in Darfur, Bashir insisted that "any decision by the International Criminal Court has no value for us. It will not be worth the ink it is written on." Khartoum, Sudan's capital, equates the warrant with an attempt at regime change.
Although the ICC does not have the ability to enforce its own warrants, suspects can be arrested on the territory of states that have signed up to the court's founding Rome Statute.
The arrest warrant for President Bashir followed arrest warrants issued by the ICC in 2007 for former Sudanese Minister of State for the Interior Ahmad Harun and Janjawid militia leader Ali Kushayb, neither of whom the Sudanese government has surrendered.
The six-year conflict in Darfur was organized by Bashir and other high-ranking political and military leaders, coordinating attacks by the militia known as janjaweed against the non-Arab population. The UN estimates that since 2003, "when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated regime for a greater share of resources and power," 300,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been displaced.
There is a question of whether genocide occurred in Darfur. In a vote of 2-to-1, the judges of the ICC claimed that "the prosecutor had not provided sufficient evidence of the government's intent, the key issue in determining genocide." Although many humanitarian and human rights organizations, as well as countries such as the United States, insist that genocide did happen, the UN has refused to acknowledge the situation, mostly due to pressure by China. Many fear that the arrest warrant would provoke more violence rather than stop the devastation of Darfur.
* Simons, Marlise. "International Criminal Court Issues Arrest Warrant for Sudanese President" International Herald Tribune 4 Mar 2009.
* "Don't Defer Justice" Amnesty International