Africa News

ICC: Sudan leader al Bashir continues crimes in Darfur

Jun 8, 2011, 15:32 GMT

New York - Sudan President Omar al Bashir has continued to defy the UN Security Council by carrying on with crimes against humanity in Darfur, the International Criminal Court prosecutor said Wednesday.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, appearing before the 15-nation council in New York, asked the body to use information provided by the ICC to 'stop the crimes in Darfur' with the assistance of the court in The Hague.

The prosecutor said al Bashir is 'threatening the international community with retaliation and yet more crimes. This tactic is not new, it is the documented practice of massive criminals: denial, cover-up, and threat of repetition.'

He said the ICC has 'further evidence' of extermination of the Fur, Massalit and Zaghawa and other tribes in Darfur by Sudanese forces.

The ICC's pre-trial chamber in March confirmed charges for war crimes against two Sudanese military commanders, Abdallah Banda and Saleh Jerbo, who have volunteered to surrender to the court for leading attacks against UN-African peacekeepers, killing 12 of them last year.

The two commanders demanded that al Bashir also appear before ICC judges at The Hague, Moreno-Ocampo said.

The ICC has issued an international warrant to arrest al Bashir, but the warrant has not been carried out.

The prosecutor said the crimes in Darfur were the 'consequences of a strategic decision taken by the highest authorities of the government of Sudan, and is not a by-product of a conflict, inter-tribal clashes or even climate change.'

The UN said the war in Darfur between Khartoum security forces and African rebel groups since 2003 has killed more than 300,000 people and made millions of refugees.