Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Justice for Darfur - well at least for the International Community

Global criminal court seeks probe in Sudan's Darfur
By Evelyn LeopoldReutersTuesday, December 13, 2005; 5:12 AM
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The prosecutor of the new International Criminal Court said he was investigating killings, mass rapes and other atrocities in lawless Darfur but had not been able to conduct inquiries in Sudan itself.
Luis Moreno Ocampo, whose report was obtained by Reuters, on Tuesday addresses the U.N. Security Council, which asked him last March to prosecute individuals responsible for atrocities in Darfur.
After identifying "particularly grave events" such as the "high numbers of killings," mass rapes and other crimes, he said he had "now selected a number of alleged criminal incidents for full investigation."
But his team of 29 experts has not been able to interview witnesses in Sudan. Instead, Moreno Ocampo, an Argentine, said he had "screened" 100 potential witnesses outside of Sudan and said he expected assistance from 11 nations and 17 advocacy and humanitarian groups.
In addition, he said his office had analyzed more than 2,500 items collected by a U.N.-established inquiry commission that reported last January.
The prosecutor, who has made one trip to Khartoum to talk to government officials, said he hoped to visit Sudan's special court and other judicial bodies investigating crimes in Darfur early next year.
Under the 1998 Rome statutes setting up the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC), the prosecutor can only conduct investigations when national courts are unable or unwilling to do so.
Among 160 suspects, Sudan's special court has convicted 13, including one for murder, Moreno Ocampo said.
But in an 85-page report over the weekend, timed for his visit, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said not one mid- or high level government official, military commander or militia leader had been suspended, prosecuted or investigated by Sudanese courts.
Moreno Ocampo gave a list of actions he would or could not take, including the almost impossible task of protecting witnesses. He also said he was considering whether a prosecution would interfere with the peace process.
And he said a list of 51 suspects given to him by the U.N. inquiry commission last April was "in no way binding" and had to be re-investigated by his staff.
That commission urged suspects be tried by the ICC and accused the government and allied Arab militia of torture, rape, killings and pillaging. It also accused Sudanese rebels of violence.
The United Nations has called Darfur one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, saying the conflict between the rebels, the government and its allied Arab militia has caused countless deaths, rapes and uprooted 2 million people.
The International Criminal Court is the first permanent global war crimes tribunal, first envisioned after the Nuremberg trials at the end of World War II.
It was set up to try individuals for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed after July 1, 2002.
The United States vehemently opposes the tribunal, arguing that it could initiate politically motivated prosecutions of American troops and officials abroad. But it allowed the council last March to refer Darfur to the ICC by abstaining.
A total of 100 countries have ratified the 1998 Rome Treaty that established the court and believe it contains enough safeguards to prevent frivolous prosecutions.

Top Sudan leaders had role in Darfur crimes - report
By Evelyn Leopold
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and 20 other government, military and Janjaweed militia members should be investigated for ordering, condoning or carrying out atrocities in the Darfur region, a leading human rights group said.
The 85-page report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch, released on Sunday, documents through eyewitness accounts, government papers and its own investigations of their alleged role in committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur since mid-2003.
"The Sudanese government at the highest levels is responsible for widespread and systematic abuses in Darfur," the report said. "The Sudanese government's systematic attacks on civilians in Darfur have been accompanied by a policy of impunity for all those responsible for the crimes."
The report was prepared for use by the International Criminal Court, which the U.N. Security Council assigned in March to indict individuals responsible for the abuses. Its prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, addresses the council on Tuesday but has not yet ordered any indictments.
In addition, the rights group said the U.N. Security Council should incorporate the list of names in its register of suspects eligible for travel and other sanctions. The council voted for the sanctions nine months ago but has taken no action.
Tens of thousands of Sudanese have been killed since a revolt in Darfur began in early 2003 by non-Arab villagers who accused the government of neglect and repression. The report charged that Khartoum in retaliation armed Arab Janjaweed militia and drafted them into police and other security forces as they looted, raped and drove 2 million people out of their homes.
The Khartoum government over the past two years has vigorously denied its affiliation with the Janjaweed and set up its own special courts to try suspects. But Human Rights Watch said the government has made no "genuine" effort to investigate, discipline or prosecute those responsible.
By early 2004 it was clear, even to some soldiers, that civilians were the targets, said the report, entitled "Entrenching Impunity: Government Responsibility for International Crimes in Darfur."
'YOU HAVE TO ATTACK THE CIVILIANS'
One former soldier was quoted as telling Human Rights Watch that when he protested to his commander, he was told, "You have to attack the civilians."
Although the Sudanese government probably does not have full control over all militia any longer, the report says the "out of control" state of affairs provides the government with the deniability it believes it needs to counter international protests."
Bashir, a lieutenant general, who is also commander-in-chief of the army, played a pivotal role, the report said. Even his public statements were "precursors to the call to arms and peaks in the violence, and no doubt echoed the private directives given to the civilian administration, military, and security services."
Also on the list is Vice President Ali Osman Taha, who has been praised for negotiating the north-south peace agreement that a year ago ended decades of civil war.
The report acknowledged there was little documentary evidence about Taha. But it quoted community leaders who said he arranged for the release from prison in 2003 of Musa Hilal, an acknowledged Janjaweed figure. They contended Hilal, also on the rights group list, took orders from Taha alone.
Defense Minister Maj. Gen. Abduraheem Mohammed Hussein, the former interior minister, was Bashir's envoy in Darfur in 1994. The report said he appeared to have played a central role in coordinating the "ethnic cleansing" campaign, with his deputy, Col. Ahmed Mohammed Haroun, also on the list.
"Both were named by numerous witnesses who noted that their visits to Darfur always preceded military offensives and militia attacks," the report said.
December 12, 2005

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