|
16 June 2008 –The Security Council today urged
the Sudanese Government and all other parties to the conflict in
Darfur to cooperate fully with the International Criminal Court
(ICC) to ensure that those responsible for crimes committed in
the war-wracked region are held to account.
Sudan is obligated under Council resolution 1593
of March 2005 to fully cooperate with the and to arrest and
surrender those indicted by the Court.
In a read out by Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad of
the United States, which holds the rotating presidency of the
Council for this month, the 15-member body also took note of the
efforts made by the Court’s Prosecutor to bring to justice the
perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity in
Darfur.
Earlier this month the Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo
told the Council that Sudan is “deliberately” attacking
civilians. “Despite promises and denials, over the last five
years, millions of civilians have been targeted by officials who
vowed to protect them. Impunity reigns,” he reported.
In addition, despite arrest warrants being issued
last April for Ahmad Harun, former Sudanese Minister of State
for the Interior and now the Minister of State for Humanitarian
Affairs, and Ali Kushayb, a leader of a pro-Government Janjaweed
militia, the two men – accused of committing war crimes – have
yet to be apprehended.
An estimated 300,000 people have died, either
through direct combat or disease, malnutrition or reduced life
expectancy, since the fighting between rebels, Government forces
and allied Janjaweed militiamen began in 2003, while another 2.7
million people have become |
