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INSIDE AFRICA

ICC to Indict Sudanese President in Darfur Case

Aired July 19, 2008 - 12:30:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Isha Sesay. Welcome to INSIDE AFRICA, your weekly window to the continent. In this week's show, we focus on the pending indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. The International Criminal Court prosecutor specifically accuses Mr. Al-Bashir of committing genocide in Darfur. Luis Moreno-Ocampo says Mr. Al-Bashir has used Arab militias (ph) in an effort to eliminate three specific ethnic groups.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUIS MORENO-OCAMPO, ICC PROSECUTOR: Al-Bashir has absolute control. He is the president of the country. He is the chairman of the National Congress Party. He is the commander-in-chief of the army. He is the chairman of the security council. He organized -- and personally, he organized Janjaweed militia. He integrated the Janjaweed militia into the police and the army. Even we have evidence showing that different militias Janjaweed call him, report to him. So Al-Bashir controls everything in Darfur.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: The U.N. estimates the Darfur crisis has left 300,000 people dead, either from attacks or starvation, and it says about 2.5 million people have been displaced.

A three-judge ICC panel is expected to spend several weeks deciding whether to issue an arrest warrant for Mr. Al-Bashir.

While the prosecutor's announcement didn't go over well with Mr. Al-Bashir supporters, protesters marched in the streets of Khartoum chanting anti- Western slogans. Sudan's ambassador to the U.N. told CNN's Rosemary Church the charges demonstrate Moreno-Ocampo's professional and legal bankruptcy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABDALMAHMOOD ABDAHALEEM MOHAMAD, SUDANESE AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: Indeed, it was shocking to many that he was -- he made a political statement, a statement that is politically motivated. Nothing to do with legal proceedings. And going to the extent of inditing a head of a state who was credited by the international community to stopping the longest running civil war in Africa.

So, what Ocampo did was to inflame the situation, was to spoil the peace process in Darfur, and to also create the foundation of very serious fallouts that would engulf not only Sudan, but the entire region. Indeed, we condemn in the strongest terms the statement by this tribunal. I think he proves to many the level and the extent of politicization of his mission. He deserves no respect, let alone cooperation with him, and it is for the international community to decide whether their priority would be stopping bloodshed in Sudan or going with Ocampo.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: So, you say the international community were shocked. Who exactly in the international community was shocked? There was the expectation that this indictment would be put forward.

MOHAMAD: No, everybody was waiting whether this man would bring new evidence, as he said and as he alleged. But he came to repeat the same thing, and I think he reached the level of the point of diminishing return, because he was only basing his justification on the fact that Al-Bashir is the head of the executive organs in the Sudan. So he is responsible. As easy as that.

I think he is a failure legally, as well as politically. Politically because only last week, a new chief negotiator was nominated to deal with the peace process, the rejuvenation of the peace process in Darfur. If you are indicting a government, a head of a state, with whom are you going to make peace? And also now, we are in the process of renewing the UNAMID, whose mandate expires on 31st of this July. With whom are you going to do that? I think this also creates the crisis of legitimacy as far as the United Nations is concerned.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Now, let's take a closer look at the man at the center of this case. A career soldier, Mr. Al-Bashir first came to power in an Islamist- backed coup in 1989. The following year, he reorganized Sudan's military government, giving Islamists greater power. That same year, he survived a coup attempt, for which he had about 30 military and police officers executed.

In 1993, Mr. Al-Bashir returned Sudan to civilian rule and made himself president. He's been re-elected twice since 1996.

While Islam is the official religion of Sudan and it is a key component of the Al-Bashir administration, I asked Sudanese historian Jok Madut Jok how Mr. Al-Bashir's Arab Muslim identity relates to the Darfur crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOK MADUT JOK, LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY: He is a person who is very pragmatic and yet proud and stubborn when it comes to pushing his ideas, his notion of what should become of Sudan, particularly as an Islamic country, as an Arab country. So, he is very committed to forging that state, an Arab Islamic state in Sudan. But he is also pragmatic, yes. He delved into liberalizing the Sudanese economy, especially the oil sector, which is the mainstay of the Sudanese economy at the moment.

SESAY: (inaudible) tradition of African strongmen that we've seen on the continent?

JOK: (inaudible) to the fact that ever since he came to power, he went to work to establish a strong government in terms of having a strong support base. Very narrow, but very strong support base. So, in order to stay in power, he invested the resources of the nation in building a strong support base in Khartoum itself, to the neglect of all the other areas of the country, which is really one of the reasons why the people of Darfur, the western region, which is now in chaos, started fighting the central government as a demand for a share, the rightful share of the national pie.

SESAY: You talked about how important Islam was to Al-Bashir. Can it be seen through the prism of Islam?

JOK: There is an element of Islam in Darfur, but which is -- Islam operates -- it intersects with race in Darfur. The people of Darfur are Muslim, but in the order of things in Sudan, some Muslims are more Muslim than others. And so, if you are Muslim but not an Arab, the degree to which you can be included in this state apparatus that Bashir has been building is limited because of your race. So Darfur is a mix of religious fanaticism to build a Muslim state, and race, to build an Arab state, but also using these two areas of identity as the tool for distribution of national resources.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Jok called the pending indictment a symbolic step and said he is skeptical that President Al-Bashir will ever stand trial.

Well, the case has raised fears of possible retaliation against peacekeepers and aid workers in Darfur. After a short break, we'll ask CNN's Nic Robertson about the risks they face and the possible impact on displaced people.

Also ahead, we'll examine how this case compared to other high-profile international prosecution. And we'll find out what some African newspaper editorial are saying about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Welcome back to INSIDE AFRICA. The pending ICC indictment against Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir has raised fears of a violent backlash against aid workers in peacekeepers in Darfur. Seven U.N. and A.U. peacekeepers were killed in an ambush just over a week ago. The U.N. Security Council condemned the attack as premeditated and deliberate. Another peacekeeper was killed on patrol on Wednesday.

CNN's Nic Robertson recently traveled to Darfur and Khartoum. I asked him about the risks to those working on the ground.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN: And initially it was sort of heard, you know, the government is considering all options, and there was a real concern about the safety of peacekeepers, the security of the humanitarian aid mission.

What we're now hearing from politicians, Sudanese politicians and diplomats, is now a much more refined message. They're not going to take this out on the ground, they say, in punitive actions. But they're going to focus on diplomatic channels, on convincing governments and people around the world. And indeed, they will push for some of the African nations, some of the 106 (ph) states that have signed up to the Rome Accords that support the International Criminal Court. They'd be appealing to them to withdraw that support, so we're going to see more of that. So I think a much more nuanced approach by the Sudanese government, at least in this -- over the next few months, Isha.

SESAY: What does this mean, however -- even though they've said and we expect them - the anticipation is that they will now take a more nuanced, diplomatic approach. What is the sense, what this could mean for the hybrid force, the A.U. - U.N. force on the ground, and indeed, ultimately, the big goal of getting the 26,000 boots on the ground?

ROBERTSON: Well, that's -- the hybrid force, as we know, is so sort of stretched for troops, it does not have enough troops. There is a sort of (inaudible) a third of what it should have, doesn't have the military helicopter. So that the hybrid force is still waiting to get the troops that it needs to get the -- a lot of the military equipment it needs, to get the basis built around Darfur that it needs to put these troops into, that they can operate there. And I think the initial reaction so far is some countries are now very concerned about sending troops into Darfur, because the future is uncertain. What does it mean to send your troops into a country where the president of that country is accused of genocide and may face sort of pariah status on the international stage. So, there is a lot of concern being expressed about that.

So, right now, it does not seem to help the U.N. peacekeeping force. We heard from the head of peacekeeping force there, General Martin Luther Agwai. We heard from Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general of the U.N., that they expect this hybrid force to have all its numbers, 26,000, by the end of the year. I think from what we've seen on the ground, that is -- that is an aspiration perhaps more than a reality, and I think (inaudible) is going to be dimmed by this move by the ICC.

SESAY: And right now we know that in light of the moves made by Luis Moreno-Ocampo, that the U.N. has removed all non-essential staff from Darfur. What impact is that likely to have, if any, on the people there in the camps?

ROBERTSON: Short term, it should not have a huge impact, because there are many, many Sudanese staff who work -- there are over 14,000, 15,000 humanitarian aid workers in the Darfur region, and only a small percentage of those are international -- international aid workers who have been temporarily withdrawn from the country. So it's probably only going to have a limited impact in the short term, but if it goes on over a longer period, then you could see a disruption too, to the food supplies. You could see a disruption to the health services and other services, and water and sanitation that are going on. There are ongoing projects, and to a large degree, they rely on that international funding coming in. To a large degree, they derive their sort of direction and momentum from the international workers that are there. So, in the coming weeks, probably not a great deal of impact. In the coming months, if those international workers were still outside Darfur, there would be problems, that's for sure.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Nic recently spoke to Moreno-Ocampo about the Al-Bashir case. He says the prosecutor hopes people around the world will hear the evidence and tell their governments to increase pressure on Sudan.

So, how exactly does the International Criminal Court work in a case like this? Up next, the man who filed charges against former Liberian president, Charles Taylor, draws some comparisons.

(COMMERICAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Making business news in Africa this week. Despite heavy criticism, the European Union's executive body backed a plan to give about $1 billion in unspent E.U. subsidies to African farmers. The European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso pledged the leftover funds during this year (inaudible). Several EU questioned the legality of the initiative, though.

Nigeria's President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua addressed concerns about the security of his country's oil industry during an official visit to London. Mr. Yar'Adua said his government is committed to a holistic solution including increasing social and economic development in the oil-rich Niger Delta region.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: You're watching INSIDE AFRICA. Welcome back. We're focusing on the pending indictment of Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir on charges including genocide. A three-judge panel from the International Criminal Court is expected to decide over the next few weeks whether to issue an arrest warrant.

The ICC was created in 2002 as the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal. 100 countries are signatories. All of these states have a greed to subject themselves to the court's jurisdiction. Proceedings before the ICC may be initiated by a state party, the prosecutor or the U.N. Security Counsel. The court prosecutes individuals charged with the most serious offenses -- genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. But it can only deal with crimes committed after 2002, the year the statute was ratified.

The ICC is considered the court of last resort. It will only act when countries themselves cannot or will not prosecute.

The case against Mr. Al-Bashir marks just the third time an international prosecutor has sought charges against a sitting head of state. Serbia's Slobodan Milosevic, who died in his cell while on trial in 2006, and Liberia's Charles Taylor, who is now on trial, are the other two. I recently asked the man who filed charges against Taylor to compare that case to the Al-Bashir case. David Crane says both send a positive message.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CRANE, FMR. CHARLES TAYLOR PROSECUTOR: The very fact that now we have a third sitting head of state in history to be indicted for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity is incredibly significant. But it's a great day for the people of Africa, because again, like the indictment of President Charles Taylor of Liberia, we're sending a signal to all wonderful Africans around this continent that their lives matter, and the cynical warlords who (inaudible) again, unnoticed, that they commit crimes against their own people. They will be held accountable.

SESAY: OK. Let's speak (inaudible) now. The charges that were filed against Charles Taylor and Slobodan Milosevic were done by special courts, or tribunal. Do they differ in that case from charges filed or a case that could potentially be heard in the ICC itself, the permanent criminal court?

CRANE: Not really. It's the same type of crimes. It's the same type of elements of the crimes that have to be proven. The international tribunals in Sierra Leone as well as in Yugoslavia and Rwanda are all using each other's jurisprudence.

SESAY: Where do we stand on the issue of immunity, and by extension, Al- Bashir? And he will say arguably, one would imagine, that he is -- he has immunity because he's a head of state.

CRANE: Well, again, the case of prosecutor v. Charles Ghankay Taylor, president of Liberia, essentially put to rest the idea that heads of state who commit international crimes while they are in office are no longer immune from those acts.

SESAY: Luis Moreno-Ocampo has filed 10 charges that cover genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. Were you surprised by the severity of the charges, the number of the charges that Omar Al-Bashir is facing?

CRANE: No, I was not. This is a long-term, systematic (inaudible) governmental policy by the government of Sudan to essentially eliminate three ethnic groups in the Darfur region. And certainly, these are serious crimes, they are extensive, and the 10 counts I think are appropriate. And in fact, I'm impressed with the tightness and the -- and the way they're written.

You can't make a mistake. A good chief prosecutor like Luis Moreno-Ocampo is absolutely sure that he has a solid case, and the fact that the prosecutor alleges that he was at the apex, he was in absolute control, he was the centerpoint by which all of these governmental policies, by which he will now be individually criminally held liable, will link him to these horrors that have taken place in the Sudan and the Darfur region.

SESAY: You have to ask will he ever stand trial? Because at the end of the day, he may have all these ducks in a row, but again, we come back to the issue of Sudan of not being a signatory, the ICC not having its own police force. I mean, do you ever really expect Al-Bashir to stand in the dock at the Hague?

CRANE: It is a life-long indictment. The indictment cannot be withdrawn. He is already losing political power, even though there is a lot of various other diplomats around the world right now coming to his aid. But they did the same thing with President Charles Taylor. Charles Taylor now is being fairly tried for 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Hague, at the special court for Sierra Leone.

So, I'm absolutely certain that President Bashir will have to face justice for what he's done to his own people, you have to understand, his own people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Crane dismisses Sudan's charge that the pending indictment is politically motivated. He says Charles Taylor launched the very same protest in 2003.

What are newspapers in Africa saying about the pending indictment? We'll have that after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Now, what some editorial pages are saying about the pending ICC indictment of Sudan's president. Kenya's "Daily Nation" calls it, quote, "the single most important development in the long struggle to end the mass slaughter in Darfur." The paper says it puts many leaders on notice, including those in the West, who, quote, "reserve for themselves the right to send armies across the world."

Egypt's "Daily News" called any steps to hold Sudan's leaders accountable "most welcome." But it suggests Moreno-Ocampo's announcement, quote, "may harden the Sudanese government's position, endanger the survival of peacekeeping forces in Darfur, and even induce Al-Bashir to take revenge."

(AUDIO GAP)

... next week from Accra, Ghana, site of this year's CNN multi-choice African journalism awards. Be sure to tune in. As always, thanks for watching.

END