Sudan on Tuesday launched a furious attack on International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo as he called for stronger action to arrest President Omar al-Bashir in his final appearance before the UN Security Council. Ocampo, who stands down as ICC chief prosecutor at the end of the month, said the failure to detain Bashir and other Sudanese officials accused of war crimes in Darfur was "a direct challenge to the council's authority."
Ocampo said the council should consider calling on all 193 UN member states and regional organisations to carry out the arrest warrants. Under current rules only ICC members have a duty to arrest Bashir, who has been to several countries, including some court signatories, without any action being taken.
Outside of the Security Council hearing, Ocampo said aid money should be cut off for countries which host Bashir. Sudan's UN ambassador Daff-Alla Elhag Ali Osman launched an fiery attack on Ocampo before the 15-member council. "He speaks as if he were a president of the world, issuing his instructions to the Security Council establishing options of which he will speak at the proper time," said Osman.
"There is no accountability system for the prosecutor which prompted him to deviate from credibility and legal professionalism," he said. "All the claims that he has amassed based on a political motive, that what happened in Darfur was an ethnic cleansing, has been refuted by prominent by international personalities," the envoy added. The Security Council approved an ICC investigation into the Darfur conflict in 2005. The UN says at least 300,000 people have died in Darfur over the past decade. The Sudan government puts the figure at 10,000 dead. The ICC has issued warrants for the arrest of Bashir, Defence Minister Abdelrahim Mohammed Hussein, former interior minister Ahmed Harun and Janjaweed militia leader Ali Kushayb.
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