International Criminal Court: no decision yet on arrest warrant for Sudan’s President

Contrary to media reports published today, the International Criminal Court (ICC) says that no decision has been made yet on the application for an arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir on charges of war crimes in Darfur.

In a news release issued in The Hague, where the ICC is based, the Court stated that “no decision has yet been taken by the judges” concerning Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s application for such a warrant.

Last July Mr. Moreno-Ocampo presented evidence to the Court against Sudan’s President for alleged war crimes in Darfur, including genocide, some three years after the UN Security Council requested him to investigate atrocities committed in the strife-torn region.

An estimated 300,000 people have died in Darfur, either through direct combat or because of disease, malnutrition or reduced life expectancy, over the past five years in Darfur, where rebels have been fighting Government forces and allied Arab militiamen, known as the Janjaweed, since 2003.

The Prosecutor had stated that he believes Mr. Al-Bashir “bears criminal responsibility in relation to 10 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes,” and said the evidence presented shows that the President masterminded and implemented a plan to destroy in substantial part the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa groups, on account of their ethnicity.