‘UN Security Council lacks credibility’: Darfur displaced

The displaced in the Darfur camps strongly denounce the failure by the UN Security Council (UNSC) to have indicted Sudanese government officials, headed by President Omar Al Bashir, arrested. They urge the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to recall her decision to suspend investigations into new crimes in Darfur.

Yagoub Mohamed Abdallah, the general coordinator of the Darfur Displaced and Refugees Association, told Radio Dabanga from Kalma camp in South Darfur, that the prosecutor’s decision “constitutes a denial of justice, as realising justice requires continued inquiries“.

“The Sudanese government in the past year has recruited and trained more militias than before. For this dry season, it has announced its aggressive intentions to eliminate the leaders among the displaced, and to dismantle the camps. Not to mention the crimes that continue on a daily basis in the region.”

However, he also lauded the ICC for indicting Al Bashir, Defence Minister Abdelrahim Hussein, North Kordofan Governor Ahmed Haroun, and militia leader Ali Kusheib. He urged the UN Security Council (UNSC) to enforce the arrest warrants.

ICC chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, announced the freezing of the investigations at the UNSC in her 20th briefing on Darfur on 12 December, for the lack of action by the UNSC to push for arrests. “Given this council’s lack of foresight on what should happen in Darfur, I am left with no choice but to hibernate investigative activities in Darfur as I shift resources to other urgent cases,” she said.

Why are the people of Darfur still subjected to the ongoing attempts by Al Bashir to eliminate them before the eyes of the world and the Security Council?”

Omda Ahmed Ateem, the coordinator of the North Darfur camps, “on behalf of the victims in Darfur” demanded from the ICC prosecution not to stop investigations into new crimes, “especially as the crimes that are currently being committed are much more artful and brutal than those in 2003 and 2004”.

He harshly criticised the UNSC for not implementing the 17 resolutions on Darfur, including the resolution to refer the Darfur crimes to the Court based in The Hague under Chapter VII.

“This is a scandal. The UNSC has demonstrated its lack of credibility concerning justice and the protection of civilians. One wonders what the UNSC permanent members are doing. Why do they keep silent about the continuing violence against us, being part of the people of the world, who have the right to enjoy protection and security, in short, the right to live? Why are the people of Darfur still subjected to the ongoing attempts by Al Bashir to eliminate them before the eyes of the world and the Security Council?”

Ateem stressed that Al Bashir's challenging of the arrest warrant by regularly travelling abroad “represents a significant embarrassment for the Council itself and the ICC”.

He demanded the UNSC convene an emergency session “to decide about robust measures to implement justice, and penalise any country that receives Al Bashir”.

“The Security Council is required to implement the 17 resolutions on Darfur, and an 18^th on South Kordofan and the Blue Nile. We furthermore need immediate intervention to protect the civilians, provide food, and to enforce access to the expelled aid organisations to enter the camps, and other war zones.”