Cairo - In an effort to avoid possible prosecution of the
Sudanese president on genocide charges, an Arab League committee
formed during an emergency meeting on Saturday is trying to draw up a
conciliatory statement to solve the crisis between Sudan and the
International Criminal Court (ICC), diplomatic sources said.
The cirsis erupted when ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo
asked the court on Monday to issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese
President Omar al-Bashir on suspicion of genocide, war crimes and
crimes against humanity.
In their meeting in the Cairo headquarters of the Arab League,
Arab foreign ministers discussed a number of proposals to find some
legal leeway out of the crisis.
A committee, made up of the foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi
Arabia, Yemen and Sudan, is trying to draw up a final statement in
which the positions of Khartoum and the ICC would be reconciled.
The final statement of the emergency meeting would stress the
dangerous consequences of the ICC move on peace prospects in Darfur,
the diplomats predicted.
The statement is likely to warn the ICC that issuing an arrest
warrant for a president of a sovereign state would be a serious
precedent.
Al-Bashir is accused of waging a campaign of genocide against
three Darfur tribes which has claimed the lives of hundreds of
thousands and displaced about 2.5 million people from their homes in
the western Sudanese province.
The ICC is expected to rule in October or November whether to
issue the warrant.
Khartoum has refused a deal with the ICC to hand over two indicted
Sudanese officials to court in return for dropping the request for
the arrest warrant.
The two officials are Ahmed Harun, Sudan's Minister of
Humanitarian Affairs, and Ali Kushayb, a militia leader.
The Arab ministers seek to find a conciliatory solution that would
meet the minimum demand of both sides, Arab diplomats told Deutsche
Presse-Agentur, dpa.
A proposal that would call for a trial of the two officials in
Sudan under international supervision would be examined by the
ministers, the diplomats said.
Under another proposal, which has been mooted in Arab diplomatic
circles, a trial of the two officials would take place in an African
country and would be attended by ICC representatives.
The Arab League ministers are expected to call for a halt to the
ICC move for a year in order to give the various parties to the
Darfur conflict more time to reach a solution.
The Arab body argues that Sudan does not recognize the authority
of the ICC, hence its president should not be tried by the court.
The league acknowledges, however, violations committed by
al-Bashir's regime in Darfur, the diplomats said.
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