Human rights groups are reportedly criticizingTurkey for hosting Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir at the two-dayTurkey-Africa Cooperation Summit, urging Ankara to reject any effort to suspendthe International Criminal Court's (ICC) investigation. This comes afterPresident Bashir said Wednesday that no citizen of his country would ever behanded over to international justice to be tried abroad, no matter theinternational pressure brought bear on his administration. He adds that the ICCprosecutor's move was encouraging rebels in the western Darfur region to fuelunrest to unseat his government. Sara Darehshori is a Senior Counsel, of theInternational Justice Program at Human Rights Watch. She tells reporter PeterClottey that Bashir's pronouncement is no news.
"Thatstatement is actually not news. Several government officials have been claimingit ever since the ICC first started looking into the situation in Darfur. Butthe thing about the claim is that it is not totally inaccurate in one sense,and that is, if the Sudanese government decides to try the people who have beencharged by the ICC for the same crimes in national courts in proceedings, thenthey can bring an admissibility challenge before the ICC, which is to say theway the International Criminal Court was established was so that nationalcourts would have primary jurisdiction over cases. But that means the governmentwould have to be willing and able to try the case themselves,"Darehshori noted.
She said Khartoum has notshown it was willing to put on trial those accused of committing various actsof crime against humanity in Darfur.
"Inthis case, Sudan has not shown itself so far to be willing to try any of thepeople involved in the crime in Darfur. So it is unlikely that an admissibilitychallenge will succeed. So the real challenge will be securing arrest withoutcooperation of the Sudanese government," She said.
Darehshorisaid supporters of Khartoum have been reportedly been using violence andintimidation in Darfur.
"What I have heard is thatthere is a fear of retaliation by government forces or government sympathizersallied militia against peacekeepers and humanitarian workers if an arrestwarrant is issued. But with all parties, be it rebels or government forces,international humanitarian law requires that they not attack peacekeepers orhumanitarian workers. The Security Council and others need to make it clearthat if additional crimes are committed, there would be consequences for thoseacts," Darehshori pointed out.
She described asembarrassing support given to Khartoum over a possible indictment of PresidentBashir over war crimes in Darfur.
"I think that threats ofretaliation and I think attacks on peacekeepers should make it basicallyembarrassing for people who are supporters of the Sudanese government in thiscontext to continue to support them. This type of regime is not something thatother governments should be willing to stand behind even if in principle theythink that issuing an arrest warrants against the head of a government while itis still in conflict is problematic," she said.
PresidentBashir reportedly said that the attempt to use the international justice againstSudan is an attempt to encourage rebel groups opposing peace to continuedestruction and destabilization to topple the Khartoum regime. He added thathis country has its own judicial institutions capable of trying anyone whoviolates justice.
TheInternational Criminal Court last month asked for President Bashir'sarrest on 10 counts of war crimes, crimes againsthumanity, and genocide in Darfur.