Legal News

ICC Prosecutor Links Sudanese Government to Darfur Attacks

By Dan Slater

For the first time, the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (whose elegant logo is depicted, left) has linked the entire Sudanese government to attacks on civilians in Darfur. In a report to the U.N. Security Council, obtained yesterday by the Associated Press, Luis Moreno-Ocampo said he has uncovered evidence showing that “high officials” in the Sudanese government, are linked directly to the janjaweed militia — a main player in the Darfur conflict since 2003.

Although it’s long been thought that the Sudanese government, while publicly denying that it supports the janjaweed, has provided resources to the militia and has participated in joint attacks targeting Sudan’s sedentary tribes, this is the first time that the ICC has linked the janjaweed to what it calls “the whole state apparatus” of Sudan.

The conflict in Darfur began in early 2003 when ethnic African rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated government, charging the regime in Khartoum with discrimination. Hundreds of thousands of people have died and millions more have been forced from their homes.

According to the AP, the report does not identify any officials or present evidence of specific crimes. Florence Olara, a spokeswoman for the ICC, said Moreno-Ocampo would name names and present evidence next month at a pretrial hearing by three of the court’s judges in The Hague. “It’s based on evidence from ongoing investigations in Darfur. He’s looking at ongoing crimes, especially crimes targeting the 2.5 million already displaced in Darfur,” she said.

Sudan’s ambassador to the United States, John Ukec Lueth Ukec, denied the accusations. “Sudan is a government and it has to provide security, and it has used its forces for security,” he told the AP. “The government is exercising its right to protect the civilian people.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on June 04, 2008 (boomark / email).