Sudan angered by arrest threat

NAIROBI // Human rights organisations and Darfuri rebel groups welcomed the news that the International Criminal Court would seek the arrest of Omar al Bashir, Sudan's president. Sudan's government, however, reacted angrily and the Arab League, of which Sudan is a member, said it would soon hold crisis talks on the possible indictment. The African Union also warned that the arrest of Mr Bashir could upset peace efforts in Darfur.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the ICC prosecutor, announced on Thursday he would open a new case on Darfur covering war crimes committed in the past five years in Sudan's western region. Mr Moreno-Ocampo did not give details, but an ICC spokesman said suspects would be named on Monday. The Washington Post on Friday quoted diplomats and United Nations officials as saying the ICC was going after Sudan's top leadership, including Mr Bashir, for orchestrating the violence that has left hundreds of thousands dead.

Sharif Harir, of the Sudan Liberation Movement Unity, said: "Hallelujah. I think that the people in Darfur and the movements will be very happy." Ahmed Hussein, of the Justice and Equality Movement, described it as "good news for the people of Darfur". "It would be a very historical kind of victory for humanity," he said. The SLMU and JEM are two of Sudan's largest rebel groups and have been fighting Mr Bashir's government in the Darfur region.

In a statement released after a meeting in the Ethiopian capital, the African Union's Peace and Security Council "expressed its strong conviction that the search for justice should be pursued in a way that does not impede or jeopardise efforts aimed at promoting lasting peace". Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad, Sudan's UN ambassador, told CNN on Friday that the ICC move was "very serious and all options are open for our reaction".

When asked by the broadcast network whether the reaction included taking international peacekeepers hostage, the envoy said: "All options are open, I tell you." There are about 9,000 peacekeepers in Darfur with the joint UN-African Union force. An ambush last week that killed seven and wounded 19 peacekeepers was one of the deadliest attacks in recent years. UN officials said a state-sponsored militia carried out the attack while the government of Sudan blamed the attack on Darfur rebels.

International organisations in Sudan tightened security yesterday fearing a violent backlash if the indictment is announced. A UN notice to personnel in Sudan said: "In light of recent security developments staff are advised to upgrade their personal security measures." The United States Agency for International Development, a government humanitarian organisation, pulled its staff out of Darfur. The US government warned Khartoum on Friday against any aggressive retaliation over a possible indictment.

"I think it should go without saying that the international system would strongly urge, in the strongest possible terms, Sudan not to consider any such reaction," said Sean McCormack, a US state department spokesman. Human Rights Watch, an advocacy group, said an indictment against Mr Bashir would send a message that a sitting president is not above the law. "If the prosecutor requests an arrest warrant against the president of Sudan for genocide or crimes against humanity or both, it will a huge step in limiting the impunity for horrific acts committed against innocent people in Darfur," said Richard Dicker, director of the international justice programme for Human Rights Watch.

If the ICC indicts Mr Bashir, it would be the first time that the court, based in The Hague, has charged a sitting head of state. The ICC was set up in 2002 as the first permanent court to try war criminals, replacing the need for ad hoc war crimes tribunals. Other UN-backed courts have charged sitting presidents. Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president, is currently on trial for crimes committed during the Sierra Leone conflict of the 1990s. Slobodan Milosevic, the former Yugoslavian president, died in a jail cell before the end of his genocide trial.

Sudan does not recognise the ICC's jurisdiction and has refused to turn over war crimes suspects to the court, which is investigating crimes in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and the Central African Republic. Diplomats warned that an indictment against Mr Bashir could jeopardise a chance for peace in the Darfur region, whereas many as 300,000 have died in the five-year civil war that has pitted the government and government-backed militias versus a handful of rebel groups.

The ICC has been accused of pursuing justice at the cost of peace in other conflicts. Mediators were close to reaching a deal in April to end Uganda's 22-year civil war with the rebel Lord's Resistance Army, but Joseph Kony, rebels' leader, refused to sign the accord until the ICC lifted its arrest warrant against him. ICC prosecutors could use a high profile war crimes suspect like Mr Bashir to take the spotlight off its recent failings. The court's first case to go to trial was suspended earlier this month and a judge ruled that the suspect should be released because he could not get a fair trial.

The trial of Thomas Lubanga, a Congolese warlord, could collapse after prosecutors refused to share confidential evidence with the defence. @Email:mbrown@thenational.ae * With additional reporting by Reuters and Agence France-Presse.