ICC prosecutor set to charge Sudan's Bashir

ICC prosecutor set to charge Sudan's Bashir
By Emma Thomasson

AMSTERDAM, July 14 (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court's (ICC) prosecutor looks poised to seek the arrest of Sudan's president on Monday for alleged war crimes in Darfur in a move Khartoum warns could set fire to the region.

A senior European diplomat said on Friday the prosecutor would likely ask for an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the first sitting head of state to be indicted by an international court since Liberia's Charles Taylor in 2003.

Sudan has said any such move could undermine the peace process in Darfur and aid officials fear a potential backlash. The Darfur investigation could also embarrass Sudan's close ally China just weeks before the start of the Beijing Olympics.

Sudan looks set to seek Chinese, Russian and African support at the United Nations to help block any warrant.

Aid organisations have tightened security in Sudan in anticipation of an indictment, which could also impact the deployment of an international peace force in Darfur -- home to the world's largest humanitarian operation.

ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo will submit to judges "evidence on crimes committed in the whole of Darfur over the last five years" and seek to charge an individual or individuals, his office said on Thursday, but gave no details.

The Washington Post quoted U.N. officials and diplomats as saying he will charge Bashir with genocide and crimes against humanity. Washington accuses the Khartoum government of genocide in Darfur, a charge it flatly denies.

Thousands of protesters chanted anti-American slogans as they rallied in Khartoum on Sunday to protest against a potential arrest warrant, which Sudanese Justice Minister Abdel Basit Sabderat told the crowd would ignite his country.

"ORGANISED CAMPAIGN"

Moreno-Ocampo said last month that Sudan's "entire state apparatus" was involved in an organised campaign to attack civilians in Darfur and said he would present judges with evidence implicating senior Sudanese officials in July.

The ICC was set up in 2002 as the world's first permanent war crimes court. As well as Darfur, it is investigating Uganda, Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo but has no police force and only has four suspects in custody.

The Sudan case comes at a difficult time for the fledgling court after judges threw its first trial into doubt amid concerns a Congolese militia leader could be denied a fair trial as the prosecution had withheld evidence from the defence.

ICC judges issued arrest warrants for two Sudanese suspects last year -- government minister Ahmed Haroun and militia commander Ali Kushayb. Khartoum refuses to hand them over.

International experts say at least 200,000 people have died in Darfur and 2.5 million have been displaced since a rebellion erupted in 2003. Khartoum says 10,000 people have been killed.

Sudan's main rebel groups, who have also been accused of rights abuses, have said any ICC arrest warrant for Bashir would be a triumph for justice, and pledged to hand over their own commanders if sought by the court.

Judges will probably take several weeks or months to rule on the likely application for new arrest warrants.

Sudan's allies could press the U.N. Security Council, which referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC for investigation in 2005, to pass a resolution suspending a warrant or inquiry for a year, although Western powers would be unlikely to support that.

(Additional reporting by Opheera McDoom in Khartoum; Editing by Charles Dick)

China has "grave concerns" over ICC Sudan decision
Tue 15 Jul 2008, 6:46 GMT
By Chris Buckley

BEIJING (Reuters) - China expressed "grave concern and misgivings" on Tuesday over the decision of the International Criminal Court to seek an arrest warrant for Sudan's president on charges of genocide in the region of Darfur.

With the ICC's prosecutor hoping to arrest Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, China confronts acute choices over its relationship with the African leader just as the Beijing Olympics opens a soft spot for international pressure.

"The ICC's actions must be beneficial to the stability of the Darfur region and the appropriate settlement of the issue, not the contrary," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a regular news conference.

Beijing has for years scrambled between its energy and political stakes in Sudan and a rising power's desire for a respected seat at the table in Darfur peace efforts.

The ICC prosecutor's momentous move makes that straddling act immensely harder, with all sides of the conflict waiting to see if Beijing will seek to suspend the legal action via a U.N. Security Council decision.

Liu said that China had consulted with other members of the United Nations Security Council and "hopes to reach consensus with the relevant parties".

ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo announced the charges on Monday, accusing Bashir of orchestrating genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur, the war-stricken western region of his country.

MANY QUANDARIES

"This presents China with many quandaries," said He Wenping, an Africa expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a leading think-tank in Beijing.

"It will have many consequences that China won't like. Our own peacekeepers could be threatened, and also this will seriously impede China's space to mediate over Darfur and encourage dialogue between Sudan and the West."

Liu confirmed that 172 Chinese peacekeepers will head to Darfur on Wednesday, bringing all of its 315 promised peacekeepers into place.

He Wenping and other observers did not expect China to move on its own to hold off the ICC, especially with Beijing determined to burnish its international image with the August Olympics.

Groups critical of China's arms and oil ties with Khartoum have urged protests to shame Beijing during the Games.

Shi Yinhong, an international security expert at Renmin University in Beijing, said China would likely let other powers lead any opposition.

"With international opinion so excited ahead of the Beijing Olympics, this is not the time for dramatic decisions (by China)," said Shi. "The Olympics make a complicated situation for China even more complicated."

China's special envoy on Darfur, Liu Guijin, has not publicly commented on the charges against Bashir.

But in the official China Daily on Tuesday, Liu defended his country's role in Sudan and suggested it was Darfur rebels -- not Bashir's government -- impeding stalled peace efforts.

Rejecting a BBC report that Chinese-made arms found their way to government-backed forces in Darfur, Liu said Western-made arms in the hands of the rebels were the real trouble.

China is a major investor in Sudan's oil. Its crude imports from Sudan are relatively small, but with turbulent energy markets and heady oil prices, Beijing would be loath to turn against Khartoum and its resources.

But buffeted by international calls to staunch bloodshed in Darfur, China backed a U.N. resolution authorising a hybrid U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force, nudged Bashir to accept the force, and has contributed its own engineers.

China abstained from the Security Council vote in 2005 that authorised the ICC to investigate Darfur, angering Khartoum, which wanted China to use its veto power.

(Editing by Bill Tarrant)