Arab League holds consultations on Sudan criminal court crisis

Jul 12, 2008, 10:38 GMT

Cairo - The Arab League is considering Sudan's call for an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers to discuss reports that the International Criminal Court's (ICC) prosecutor may seek a warrant for the arrest of the Sudanese president, a spokesman for the Cairo-based body said Saturday.

The Arab League's spokesman, Hesham Yussif, told al-Arabiya news channel that the league was in consultation with Arab foreign ministers over the 'serious crisis.'

However, Yussif said, no action will be taken until Monday when the ICC prosecutor is expected to open a new war crimes case on Darfur.

An ICC prosecution statement said Thursday that prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo was due to put forward to judges evidence on crimes committed in Darfur in the past five years and would seek to make charges against individuals.

No further details were revealed but United Nations officials were quoted by The Washington Post as saying Sudanese President Omar Bashir would be charged with genocide and crimes against humanity.

Sudan has formally asked the Arab League to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the crisis.

Last year, ICC judges issued arrest warrants for two Sudanese, the minister Ahmed Harun and militia commander Ali Kushayb, but the Sudanese government said it would not hand not them over.

The crisis in Sudan's western Darfur province erupted when non- Arab rebels staged an uprising in 2003 against the predominantly Arab central government and Khartoum-backed nomadic militias.

Some 200,000 people have died, according to international estimates, and about 2.5 million have been displaced since 2003.