by Salah Nasrawi
Sunday, July 20, 2008
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - The Arab League on Saturday said that the genocide charges brought against Sudan's president by the prosecutor of the International Court are not acceptable and undermine that country's sovereignty.
|
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/Amr Nabil |
The 22-nation group also said after a one-day emergency council meeting on Saturday that only Sudanese courts have jurisdiction on such matters.
The meeting focused on the charges brought against President Omar al-Bashir. The court is expected to decide within three months on whether to issue arrest warrants for any of the charges.
It added that any charges or legal issues related to Darfur should be dealt with domestically and stressed "the competence of the Sudanese judiciary and it's independence and its jurisdiction in achieving justice."
The Arab League, however, didn't name the charges against al-Bashir in the resolution, but instead warned about the possible ramifications they may have on the peace process in Darfur.
"The council warns against the dangerous ramifications on the current peace process in Sudan by the request made by the prosecutor general," it said.
Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo filed 10 charges of genocide and crimes against humanity against al-Bashir related to a campaign of extermination the UN says has claimed 300,000 lives and driven 2.5 million people from their homes.
The resolution, hammered out after a four-hour meeting, instead focused more on the political consequences of the charges and their consequences for the stability of Sudan and Darfur.
Although it openly sided with Sudan, the group tried to avoid publicly condemning the international court - either in the joint resolution or in the news conference that followed.
"There is no use for shouting or sloganeering, we have to deal with this in a legal and political framework," Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, an Egyptian, said at a news conference.
Moussa planned to travel to Sudan on Sunday with what he describes as a plan to resolve the crisis in Sudan, but did not provide any details.
Sudan's state minister for foreign affairs, Al Sammani Al Wasila, told The Associated Press after the meeting that "we reject all the charges old and new."
But he added that "the position expressed by our brothers is fair and balanced."
During meetings with al-Bashir, Moussa is expected to bring up the possibility that Sudan turn over two officials indicted last year by the court, Arab diplomats said.
In return, the UN Security Council, which asked the court to investigate the Darfur conflict, will be asked to defer prosecution of al-Bashir for at least year, the Arab diplomats who attended the meeting said.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The charges against al-Bashir came a year after the court indicted Sudan's humanitarian affairs minister, Ahmed Harun, who was formerly in charge of security in Darfur, and suspected militia leader Ali Kushayb on crimes against humanity.
The statutes signed in Rome that set up the court in 2002 state that an acting head of state or government is not exempt for criminal responsibility and that any official immunities do not bar the court from exercising its jurisdiction over such a person.
Only three Arab league states recognize the court - Jordan, Djibouti and Comoros.
Source: AP, July 20, 2008