afrol News, 1 April - As the UN Security decided to refer the situation in Sudan's troubled Darfur region to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), organisations and governments all over the world are relieved that justice will come. The deadlock over the referral to the ICC was lifted as the US and China - both sceptical to the Court - decided to abstain at the Security Council vote.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan today welcomed the Security Council's decision as one that would "ensure that those responsible for atrocities in Darfur are held to account." The text, which refers to developments in Darfur since 1 July 2002, was adopted just before midnight Thursday (New York time) by a vote of 11 in favour, with Algeria, Brazil, China and the United States abstaining. In particular European powers had lobbied for the decision.

The Khartoum government, on the other hand, today made it clear it would not support the Security Council decision. Several high-ranking Sudanese government officials risk being accused of war crimes by the ICC. The government in a statement indicated it would not cooperate with the Court, rejecting "the prosecution of any Sudanese national outside of the country."

Since early 2003, ongoing attacks in the Darfur region by Janjaweed militias, government forces and Darfuri rebels have left between 180,000 and 300,000 people dead and have displaced more than two million. The attacks have been carried out with almost complete impunity, and have included systematic torture, rape, abduction, forced displacement and pillaging of the civilian population.

The international society for over one year has put pressure on the Sudanese government to stop the fighting and impunity and bring those responsible for war crimes to a court. Peace talks between the government and Darfuri rebels in Abuja (Nigeria) also mostly have failed.

In January 2005, an international commission of inquiry appointed by the UN recommended that the UN Security Council refer the situation in Darfur to the ICC - the only means by which the Court could assume jurisdiction in this instance. The commission found that the Sudanese government and militias were responsible for serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, amounting to crimes under international law.

Opposition by several major powers so far however had hindered the referral of war crime cases in Darfur to the ICC. In particular the Washington government opposed the move as the US does not recognise the ICC. Further, China, an ally of the Khartoum government, protested the solution. Both China and the US have veto powers in the Security Council and only their abstention in the vote secured this night's resolution.

The use of the ICC has also been strongly lobbied by human rights groups all over the world, in particular in the US. The groups hold that the ICC is the only institution that can bring justice to Darfur's many war crime victims. This night's decision was therefore celebrated as a major victory by these groups, several UN institutions and governments in Europe.

The New York-based International Centre for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) today therefore welcomed the Security Council's decision, saying it offered "renewed hope of finally ending the suffering in Darfur and bringing justice to victims." Hanny Megally of the ICTJ added that "it sends a strong signal that the international community will not tolerate impunity in the face of grave human rights violations."

Also the Darfur Consortium, a group of several Africa-based civil society, today celebrated the decision. "The Security Council has served notice to perpetrators of atrocities in Darfur that the world will not tolerate their behaviour," said Dismas Nkunda, a representative of the consortium.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights also welcomed the approval of the resolution as "the best way to stop continuing violations and prevent future transgressions." In a rapid follow-up, ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo asked the UN commission of inquiry on Darfur to turn over to his office the thousands of pages it searched in order to compile its 25 January report on rights violations for the UN Secretary-General.

Tonight's resolution also invited the ICC and the African Union (AU) to discuss practical arrangements to aid the work of the Prosecutor and Court, including the possibility of conducting the proceedings in the region so as to "contribute to regional efforts in the fight against impunity."

By staff writer

© afrol News

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