afrol News, 11 July - Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir will face genocide and crimes against humanity for war crimes committed in Darfur before International Criminal Court (ICC), UN official said.

President al-Bashir who will become first head of state and first Arab leader to be charged by the war crimes tribunal is accused of allowing systematic attacks on civilian in Darfur region since 2003 which has left over 200 000 people dead while 2.5 million were displaced.

ICC's prosecutor Mr Luis Moreno-Ocampo issued a statement on Thursday announcing that he would be submitting evidence on crimes committed in the whole of Darfur over the last five years.

"The Sudanese government tolerates the firefighters and promotes the arsonists at the same time. The international community cannot ignore the arsonists. If they remain, there will never be enough firefights," said ICC prosecutor.

The move by ICC is likely to sour relations between Khartoum and the United Nations. The UN at the moment stepping its security in Sudanese capital and evacuating other personnel in fear that an announcement of arrest of president could backlash.

"The UN has gone into panic mode," one aid official said, expressing fears that the government could retaliate by curbing or even expelling the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force, UNAMID, that is slowly deploying in the region.

Sudanese ambassador to the United Nations, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad said ICC information indicated that Mr. Bashir and Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha will be indicted.

"It is playing with fire, the indictment will have disastrous consequences over the overall situation in the country, and it will harden position of rebels," Mr. Mohamad said.

The ambassador said his government would not cooperate with the ICC if it indicts Mr Bashir, and he appealed to the Security Council to intervene to stop Mr Moreno-Ocampo.

Human Rights Watch official Richard Dicker said such an indictment is a significant step, saying though he has no independent confirmation that charges would be issued against Mr al Bashir, if it happens, it is likely to raise the profile of the ICC.

Mr Moreno-Ocampo's office will be presenting its new case amid intense controversy over its role. Its prosecution of a Congolese warlord, Thomas Lubanga, collapsed this month when the court ruled it had wrongly withheld evidence that could help the defence. Lubanga's release was blocked by the ICC's appeals chamber.

William Schabas, head of the Irish Centre for Human Rights at the National University of Ireland, said: "This is a very decisive moment for the court. It has been going through a terrible period, this could revive its image and make people feel it's a robust dynamic institution, or it could be another blow."

Set up in 2002 in The Hague as the world's first permanent war crimes court, the ICC is also investigating crimes in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic, but has only four people in custody, all from Congo.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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