Netherlands - Court issues war-crimes warrant for Sudan's Bashir
March 05, 2009
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant yesterday for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. He is the first sitting head of state the court has ordered arrested.
The three-judge panel said there was insufficient evidence to support charges of genocide in a war in which up to 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million have fled their homes.
Al-Bashir's government denounced the warrant as part of a Western conspiracy aimed at destabilising the vast oil-rich nation south of Egypt.
African and Arab nations fear the warrant will destabilise the whole region, bring even more conflict in Darfur and threaten the fragile peace deal that ended decades of civil war between northern and southern Sudan. China, which buys two-thirds of Sudan's oil, supports the African and Arab positions.
Some African nations reportedly threatened to pull out of the court in retaliation for the warrant. Thirty African countries are among the court's 108 member states.
In a show of defiance on Tuesday, in anticipation of the decision, al-Bashir told supporters at a rally "We are telling them to immerse it in water and drink it", a common Arabic insult meant to show extreme disrespect.
Hundreds of Sudanese waving pictures of the president and denouncing the court quickly turned out in a rally at the Cabinet building in Khartoum. Security was increased around many embassies and some diplomats and aid workers stayed home amid fears of retaliation against Westerners....
Author: Gleaner Reporter
Source: Jamaica Gleaner
