World leaders urged to 'break Darfur silence'
On the eve of a high-level UN meeting on Darfur, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court urged world leaders to “break their silence” and put justice at the top of the agenda because there will be no peace as long as alleged war criminals remain free in Sudan.
Ministers from 26 countries have been invited to attend today’s meeting chaired by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and African Union Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare to mobilise international support for new political negotiations, deployment of a 26,000-strong AU-UN force and expanding humanitarian assistance to Darfur.
But bringing to justice those most responsible for killing over 200,000 people and uprooting more than 2.5 million during the 41/2-year conflict is not on the agenda.
Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said the upcoming meetings should be used to remind the Sudanese government of its duty to arrest the country’s humanitarian affairs minister, Ahmed Harun, who faces charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“I’m concerned that silence by most states and international organisations on the subject of the arrest warrant has been understood in Khartoum as a weakening of international resolve in support of the law, and in support of the arrest of Ahmed Harun,” he said yesterday. “It is time to break the silence.”
Moreno-Ocampo said Harun – suspected of involvement in the murder, rape, torture and persecution of civilians in Darfur – is now in charge of the millions of people he forced out of villages into camps.
“World leaders have to understand that if the justice component process is ignored, crimes will continue and affect the humanitarian and security operations in Darfur,” he said. “Ahmed Harun is not protecting the camps, he is controlling them. He must be stopped. He must be arrested. The international community must be consistent in their support of the law.”
Postponing his arrest, Moreno-Ocampo said, means “there will be no solution in Darfur.”
The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when ethnic African rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated central government, accusing it of discrimination. Sudan is accused of retaliating by unleashing Arab militias known as janjaweed responsible for much of the violence – an accusation the government denies.
Moreno-Ocampo expressed hope that the secretary-general’s talks with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir earlier this month “can bear fruit.”
Asked at a news conference on Tuesday how al-Bashir responded when he asked him to hand over Harun and janjaweed leader Ali Kushayb for trial by the court, Ban said he raised the issue “more than once in a private conversation” and would continue to raise it.
He refused to disclose the details, but said “you should know that I am fully committed to justice and peace.”
Sudan’s UN ambassador, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad, said al-Bashir told the secretary-general “in no way we are going to surrender any of our citizens to be prosecuted abroad.
If there are any crimes … the people to do that is the Sudanese judicial system.”
Mohamed accused Moreno-Ocampo of politicising his office and coming to New York “to destroy the peace process” instead of helping to ensure the success of the political negotiations in Libya starting on October 27.
Ban’s main focus today will be trying to map out strategy and a road map for the political negotiations.
Before the talks, the UN and its allies must persuade Darfur’s fragmented rebel groups to sit down with the Sudanese government, a goal that has proved elusive in the past. Abdel Wahid Nur, one of the most influential rebel leaders, has said he will not participate.
Ban has urged al-Bashir to commit to a cease-fire in Darfur and heed his warning that the recent upsurge in fighting could have a negative impact on the political talks.
The secretary-general will also be pressing for agreement on the composition of the AU-UN “hybrid” force, which Sudan has demanded be predominantly African.
US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said the United States “would like expedited acceptance by the African Union” of the UN recommendations for the force, which needs to include non-African units to complement the predominantly African character.
UN Under-secretary-General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno has said the force needs specialised aviation, transport and logistical units not available in Africa.
UN diplomats said the AU has expressed concern at offers by some Nordic countries and Uruguay.
“The issue is not the African troops,” said South Africa’s UN Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo. “The issue is the people who are suffering in Darfur. … It’s time to have people on the ground soon. Delay is becoming very, very dangerous to the people.”
“We want a timetable that says that the first soldiers will be on the ground on such and such a date,” he said.
Former Irish President Mary Robinson, who visited a camp in eastern Chad for Darfur refugees with seven other prominent women earlier this month, said the women in the camps “asked us to make sure that their voices will be heard at the peace negotiations and in the political discussions in New York and elsewhere.”
“These women today are being raped, are being assaulted. Their families are not safe and they live in frightening circumstances,” Robinson said. “We want to stress the urgency of a ceasefire.”
