afrol News, 5 June - International Criminal Court (ICC) has demanded the government of Sudan to surrender two of Sudan,s most wanted suspects in connection wth crimes against humanity. Both Ahmad Harun and Ali Kushayb are implicated on war crimes that have left thousands of people dead and about 2,5 million displaced in the Dafur region.

In his report ICC's Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo accuses the government of President of Umar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir of shielding the suspects even after warrants against them were issued a year ago.

"The government of Sudan has taken no steps to arrest and surrender the suspects and stop the crimes, impunity for Harun has concrete consequences on the international community's efforts to deliver humanitarian assistance and promote security in Darfur," he noted in a report, charging that Mr. Harun attacked the very people he is responsible to protect.

"He hampers the delivery of relief to the victims. He is also involved in obstructing deployment of the peacekeepers," he charged.

Mr. William Pace, of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC), an umbrella organisation of international groups, said the prosecutor must press for Sudanese government to investigate and prosecute those fingered for war crimes in the country.

"When state officials protect those accused, they become complicit in the crimes under international law. They've promoted Harun to be a minister, so it's implying that there's direct leadership responsibilities that the state apparatus is implicated in shielding Harun and the rebel leader from prosecution," Mr. Pace said in a press briefing held by ICC after the recent arrival of UN Security Council in the country.

Mr. Ahmed Harun, is the current Minister of Sudan's humanitarian affairs. He is accused of organising a system to recruit, fund and arm janjaweed militia to support the Sudanese military, and Ali Kushayb, known as "colonel of colonels" among the janjaweed.

Meanwhile, Sudanese ambassador to the UN Mr Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamed has retorted that his country is not obliged to bow to ICC.

"We will never submit any of our citizens to be tried in The Hague. Ocampo is destroying the peace process and we demand that this man be held accountable for what he is doing to the peace process in Sudan," reports quoted Mr Mohammed.

ICC together with Justice for Darfur Campaign were expected to meet UN Security Council today. The Security Council is on a three-day visit in Sudan to discuss among other issues arrests of those indicted and the government's cooperation in an effort to bring peace to the war-torn country. The Council had resolved in 2005 that the situation in Darfur be referred to ICC for investigation and prosecution.

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.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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