Sudan leader charged in genocide

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court filed genocide charges Monday against Sudan's president and ignited a debate over whether the move would help end the long-standing violence in the country's Darfur region or undermine prospects for peace.

The prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, submitted evidence intended to show that President Omar Hassan al-Bashir intentionally tried to wipe out a "substantial part" of three tribes in Sudan's western region based on their ethnicity.

Members of the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa groups rebelled against the government in 2003. When al-Bashir's army failed to defeat the armed movements, he sent lawless militias known as "janjaweed" after the people, Moreno-Ocampo said.

"Al-Bashir organized the destitution, insecurity and harassment of the survivors," said Moreno-Ocampo, of Argentina. "He did not need bullets. He used other weapons: rapes, hunger and fear."

Al-Bashir's "motives were largely political," the prosecutor said. "His alibi was a counterinsurgency. His intent was genocide."

Genocide charges are the gravest any court can bring. Moreno-Ocampo filed a total of 10 charges against al-Bashir related to a campaign of extermination the U.N. says has claimed 300,000 lives and driven 2.5 million people from their homes. Those who survive are preyed upon by the government-backed militias and troops, Moreno-Ocampo said.

"They have no more water, no more food, no more cattle. They have lost everything," he said.

He recalled one witness who heard one attacker say to another, "Do not waste your bullets. They have nothing to do ... they will die from hunger."

Although al-Bashir has few supporters in the international community, the prosecutor's move has divided human-rights groups and U.N. agencies on whether it will be long-needed leverage against the government or will spark chaos.

Bracing for reprisals, U.N. peacekeepers and aid workers stepped up security in Darfur and pulled out all but the most essential civilians. Sudan promised not to vent its outrage on them, but said it would unleash a "diplomatic war" to try to scuttle the case.

It was the first time the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has brought genocide charges against anyone. It was also the first time the prosecutor has brought charges against a sitting head of state since the court opened its doors in 2002. Two other presidents, Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia and Charles Taylor of Liberia, were charged by other international war-crimes courts, also while they were in office.

Speaking at the court in The Hague, Netherlands, Moreno-Ocampo said he had handed his evidence to the three judges who will decide whether to issue the arrest warrant. An answer is expected in the fall, lawyers at the court said.

But the request for a warrant against al-Bashir seemed unlikely to lead to his arrest soon. Al-Bashir has scoffed at two arrest warrants the court already has issued against two other Sudanese figures; he even promoted one of them to minister of humanitarian affairs.

"We will resist this," said Rabie Atti, a Sudanese government spokesman, who contended that al-Bashir was innocent and the international court was "a stooge" for Sudan's enemies.

Sudan's ambassador to the United Nations, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad, said al-Bashir was weighing all options, including a military response.

John Prendergast, a former U.S. State Department official who has helped elevate Darfur to the world's attention, said holding leaders accountable for war crimes ultimately promotes peace, and that it won't disrupt talks in Sudan because there now are none.

"The peace process is dead," he said. "There is no process, and even more importantly, there is no leverage. Suddenly, a new variable has entered the equation in the form of the request for an arrest warrant."

He added that the Security Council can suspend a court investigation for a year, and, so far, that prospect is the best inducement for the government to change its behavior.

An important question is whether the U.N. Security Council will intervene in the case. The council asked the court in 2005 to investigate the Darfur crisis, but it has the authority to suspend an investigation or prosecution for at least a year. Since the prosecutor notified the U.N. secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, last week of his plan, council members have met privately, with China and Russia warning that a direct move against the Sudanese president would jeopardize any future peace talks.

The joint African Union-U.N. peacekeeping mission in Darfur said Monday it would continue operating in the region, but other aid organizations have temporarily evacuated some of their workers from Darfur to the capital, Khartoum.

Compiled from Los Angeles Times,

The New York Times and

The Associated Press reports.