ICC Prosecutor suggests holding a UN Security Council session in Sudan

The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, has warned of the dire consequences of impunity for those Sudanese wanted by the court, and said it could lead to more crimes against humanity. “The nightmare for thousands of Darfuris has not ended.”

In his briefing to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) by videoconference on Tuesday, the first ever Security Council briefing from within a country where the ICC is pursuing justice, Khan urged the Council to do more to deliver justice for the people of Darfur.

Following his two-day visit to South Darfur, where he visited Kalma camp, with 300,000 residents one of the largest displacement camps in the region, and the Hasaheisa and Hamidiya camps in and Central Darfur, Khan stressed the need for “actual action, not promises”.

The trial of former janjaweed leader Ali Muhammad Ali Abdelrahman (known as ‘Ali Kushayb’) "represents a glimmer of hope for justice in Darfur. We must collectively ensure it is the beginning of true accountability and not a false dawn," he said.

He stressed that the situation in Sudan needs to be properly prioritised. “The nightmare for thousands of Darfuris has not ended,” he said, and warned of the dire consequences of impunity for those Sudanese wanted by the court, and said it could lead to more crimes against humanity.

Khan further spoke about the importance of implementing the agreements signed with the Sudanese authorities. As part of a “way forward”, he suggested to hold a UNSC session in Sudan to hear from the Darfuris themselves how much they are in need of security and justice.

The ICC prosecutor also emphasised the responsibility of Sudan to cooperate with the court, and said he would meet with Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan, head of the sovereignty Council and Commander-in-Chief of the Sudan Armed Forces, and other officials on Wednesday to discuss the cooperation with the court. 

He welcomed the government's commitment to open an office for the court during the coming period and to grant visas.

Khan and his deputy, Nazhat Shameem Khan, who stayed in Khartoum where she met with human rights defenders, are scheduled to leave the country tomorrow.

‘Widely welcomed’

Khan reported that he was warmly welcomed by the displaced he visited in Darfur on Sunday and Monday, and that he was sincerely impressed by their resilience and patience.

A number of displaced community leaders in the Hamidiya and Hasaheisa camps near Zalingei, capital of Central Darfur, expressed their satisfaction with the visit to Radio Dabanga.

El Shafee Abdallah said that the visit of the ICC prosecutor “achieved its purposes as we conveyed the demands of the families of the victims and survivors for justice, which will not be achieved unless the wanted persons are transferred from Kober Prison [in Khartoum] to the ICC in the Hague.

“We all know that achieving justice requires long procedures that must be completed in order for the country to emerge from the circle of conflicts and disputes,” he added.

Fathiya Adam, representative of the displaced women in Central Darfur, told Radio Dabanga that they demanded the ICC prosecutor to bring all 51 defendants to trial. 

She also demanded protection “to the families of the victims, the witnesses, and all the displaced people who lost their lands and farms, and are living in exceptional conditions for twenty years”.

Delay

In Khartoum, lawyers, human rights defenders and representatives of human rights organisations expressed their dissatisfaction with the delay in the procedures for handing over the persons indicted by the ICC.

According to a statement issued by the Darfur Bar Association on Tuesday, they expressed their fear that the current rulers of Sudan, following the coup d’état of October 25 last year, will restore the impunity of the defendants. 

In a meeting with ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan on Monday, they referred to the repeated visits of representatives of the ICC Prosecution Office to Sudan, and expressed their dissatisfaction about “the modest outcome of the results and the failure to extradite the wanted persons to The Hague”.