Sudan

Moussa on mission to stop ICC arrest warrant

Article published on the 2008-07-20 Latest update 2008-07-21 07:36 TU

Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir
(photo: AFP)

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa is in Khartoum to discuss a plan to prevent the International Criminal Court from issuing an arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir. The ICC's chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo asked the court for a warrant against al-Beshir for his alleged role in the Darfur conflict.

 

 

Moussa's trip came just a day after Arab foreign ministers agreed a plan to defuse the crisis. They met in Cairo after the ICC's chief prosecutor said he would seek to indict Sudan's president on charges of war crimes.

During the meeting Moussa said that Arabs had to work closely with the African Union and the UN to protect the fragile peace process in Sudan.

Mahmoud Ali Youssef, the foreign minister of Djibouti, said at the opening of the meeting in Cairo that the charges brought against Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir will have dangerous repercussions for the entire region.

Abdallah El Ashaal, Sudanese government advisor told RFI that the court has gone too far.

"I am supporting the view court is very important but unfortunately that image is very much damaged and I think prosecutors had to be more cautious," he said.

 

 

In a joint resolution issued at the end of the meeting, the foreign ministers said the charges undermined Sudan's sovereignty.

"The council decides solidarity with the Republic of Sudan in confronting schemes that undermine its sovereignty, unity and stability and their non-acceptance of the unbalanced, not objective position of the prosecutor general of the Internal Criminal Court," the resolution said.

Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo has accused al-Beshir of running a campaign of genocide that killed some 45,000 people and forced 2.5 million to flee their homes in Darfur.