ICC to Announce Decision on Arrest Warrant for Sudanese President Al-Bashir

The International Criminal Court will hold a press conference on Wednesday, March 4, 2008 at 12:45 GMT to announce its decision on the arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told Al-Jazeera today that the arrest would not take place within Sudan and that “no one will try to arrest Mr. Bashir in Sudan.” Notably, according to Alain Le Roy, the head of UN peacekeeping operations in Sudan, the UN peacekeepers would not be authorized to arrest President al-Bashir in Sudan because such action is not authorized in the mandates for the two UN peacekeeping missions. Le Roy implicitly argues that the UN Security Council would need to provide additional authorization to require or to permit peacekeepers to enforce the arrest warrant domestically in Sudan. Ironically, the Security Council referred the situation of Darfur to the ICC for investigation and possible prosecution. This gap between referrals to the ICC by the Security Council for criminal prosecutions and cooperation on the pragmatic enforcement of arrest warrants hinders the operations of the ICC, according to ICC President Philippe Kirsch. Alternately, domestic forces could arrest President al-Bashir and turn him over. Most likely, President al-Bashir would find himself with limited mobility to travel outside the Sudan without the risk of being arrested.

The ICC Prosecutor asserts that there is “strong evidence” of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Darfur since March 2003. The Prosecutor also says that 30 witnesses are ready to testify to support the evidence that President al-Bashir “managed and controlled everything.”

The ICC will provide live online broadcasting of the Al Bashir press conference.

See the earlier postings:

• ICC Prosecutor Seeks Arrest of Sudanese President Al-Bashir for Genocide and Violations of International Law
• Sudan: ICC Prosecutor to Charge a Sitting Head of State