AU seeks deferment of Sudan charges

News Article by FT posted on September 08, 2008 at 21:51:29: EST (-5 GMT)

AU seeks deferment of Sudan charges Financial Times Barney Jopson September 8 2008 The African Union has called for genocide charges against Sudan’s president to be deferred even as violence in the Darfur region escalates sharply. In July, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court indicted Omar al-Bashir, on 10 charges over the Darfur conflict, including three counts of genocide. ICC judges are currently deciding whether to issue an arrest warrant. EDITOR’S CHOICE Analysis: Bashir’s ‘brutal pragmatism’ binds fragmented Sudan - Jul-30Force to probe reported Darfur village attack - Jul-26Missions at the ‘outer limits’ of peacekeeping - Jul-24Bashir sticks to peace script on Darfur visit - Jul-23Sudan president charged with genocide - Jul-14UN fears for peacekeepers in Sudan - Jul-14Jakaya Kikwete, AU chairman and president of Tanzania, told reporters in Khartoum on Monday: “Peace and settling the humanitarian crisis in Darfur is the number one priority now. . . It is on this basis that the AU supports the deferment of the indictment.” Government-initiated attacks in Darfur have risen in the two months since the indictments were filed, forcing the World Food Programme to warn that it will have to suspend food distribution if the security situation does not improve. More than 30 civilians were killed late last month when Sudanese security forces raided a camp for refugees displaced by the five-year conflict. The joint United Nations-AU peacekeeping mission condemned the “excessive, disproportionate use of lethal force”. Some 300,000 people have been killed and 2.5m displaced since a conflict began in 2003 between the government and Darfur rebels, who are seeking greater power and wealth in Sudan. Rebel groups said at the weekend that Sudan’s armed forces had launched a new offensive against their positions in north Darfur and succeeded in taking at least two towns. The military has denied any activity in the area. The Khartoum government has launched a diplomatic offensive to have the ICC indictments deferred, arguing that they are jeopardising the search for peace in Darfur. The UN Security Council has the power to defer any ICC prosecution for a year and the AU, along with the Arab League, has backed the Sudanese government’s stance on the indictments. Mr Kikwete’s visit to Khartoum marks the first time he has stood side-by-side with Mr Bashir to set out the AU’s position. The AU chairman – who is scheduled to visit New York – said he would “pursue the implementation of the matter” within the UN system. But he stressed that those responsible for crimes in Darfur must ultimately be held to account. “Justice is critical and we do not in any way want to be perceived as sending the wrong signals of condoning impunity,” he said. Activist groups, such as the Save Darfur coalition, which support the indictments say the charges cannot undermine the search for peace because there is no credible peace process and no commitment to peace on the part of the government. The WFP said on Sunday that relentless attacks on food convoys in Darfur were jeopardising its ability to feed more than 3m people in the region. The organisation has been warning since January that banditry and military attacks were hampering its work and, since May, it has been forced to cut rations because it is not able to deliver enough food to its warehouses in Darfur.