Umma Party leader supports ICC, Heidelberg Darfur document

Umma Party Chairman Sadig Al Mahdi expressed support for the International Criminal Court (ICC), as well as the  unanimous UN Security Council Resolution in 2005 that referred the Darfur situation to the court in accordance with the Rome Statute. Sadig Al Mahdi announced this at a news conference in Khartoum on Thursday, saying that he rejects impunity for perpetrators of abuses in Darfur. He called for international justice while cautioning that there should be a balance between peace and justice that would be acceptable to the Security Council. His remarks came while President Bashir was in Chad, a member state of the ICC. Al Mahdi was the last prime minister of Sudan, elected in 1986, and deposed in 1989 in the armed coup led by Bashir.In another new development, the Umma Party leader annouced that he endorses the Heidelberg Document for Darfur Peace, which was rejected by the government but received widespread support among Darfurian civil society and armed opposition. Sadig Al Mahdi said that there will be a conference at the end of this month to meet with the armed movements to discuss the Heidelberg Document, but Al Mahdi did not identify where the conference will be held or which parties will participate. He called on the joint mediation team of the Darfur peace process to adopt the document to achieve peace in Darfur. The document was produced by Darfurian civil society leaders working at three conferences held by the Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg, Germany.