MiaFarrow.org |
Humanitarian and Advocacy Information |
Archives
| February 7, 2009 |
Jon Ward and Betsy Pisik, THE WASHINGTON TIMES
EXCLUSIVE:
President Obama supports implementing the war crimes indictment by the International Criminal Court against Sudanese President Omar Bashir, a strong indication of the tough approach the new administration will take toward Sudan as well as its favorable view of an international body the Bush administration refused to join.
"We support the ICC and its pursuit of those who've perpetrated war crimes. We see no reason to support deferral [of the indictment] at this time," said Ben Chang, a spokesman for Mr. Obama's national security adviser, retired Marine Gen. James L. Jones.
Mr. Obama gave his support for an arrest warrant -- which could be handed down within days -- despite concerns that pursuing charges against Gen. Bashir could provoke Khartoum to retaliate against humanitarian groups and plunge the country into even more bloodshed and chaos.
Top Obama administration officials such as Susan Rice, the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, have long advocated a hard line toward the Bashir regime. Ms. Rice, who worked on peacekeeping issues in the Clinton White House and as assistant secretary of state for African affairs during President Clinton's second term, is said to have been scarred by the U.S. and international failure to prevent the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which nearly 1 million people were killed.
The Obama administration has signaled awareness of potential blowback if a warrant is issued. Ms. Rice said Tuesday that Sudanese bombing of rebel groups in a Darfuri town, Muhajiriya, was in "anticipation of an arrest warrant." She called on the Bashir regime to stop the bombing and allow a U.N. and African Union joint peacekeeping force (UNAMID) into the area.
"The onus is on the government to halt all aerial bombardment, to allow UNAMID to have complete freedom of movement, and to ... effectively carry out its mandate to protect civilians," she said. The bombing follows two weeks of fighting in and around Muhajiriya, which was seized by a rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement.
Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo charged Gen. Bashir on July 14 with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The Bush administration in 2004 labeled as genocide the bloodshed in Darfur that has killed more than 300,000 people. Although it refused to ratify and even "unsigned" a Clinton administration document joining the international court - which the Bush administration viewed as subordinating U.S. sovereignty - it supported ICC indictments and arrest warrants against lower-level Sudanese.
The Obama administration has a more favorable attitude toward the ICC, although it is reviewing whether it should re-sign the treaty and seek Senate ratification.
"It is in our country's interest that the most heinous of criminals, like the perpetrators of the genocide in Darfur, are held accountable," said Mr. Chang, the National Security Council spokesman. At the same time, he said, Mr. Obama, as commander in chief, "wants to make sure that [U.S.] troops have maximum protection" against politically motivated indictments.
The president "will consult thoroughly across the whole government, including with the military, and also examine the full track record of the court, before reaching a decision on how to move forward," Mr. Chang said.
John Prendergast, a former African affairs adviser to Mr. Clinton, said, "We certainly don't have to capitulate to the Chicken Little theory that just because the ICC is issuing this warrant there has to be necessarily a deterioration of the situation in Darfur. The response of the [Sudanese] government is completely in play right now. It will be largely dependent on the international reaction." Mr. Prendergast, who runs the Enough Project aimed at ending violence and genocide in Sudan, said failure to arrest Gen. Bashir would embolden the Sudanese "to continue with their agenda, which is to militarily crush their opposition."
"Part of the reason there is no resolution in Sudan is because there has been no accountability," he said. "If we take accountability off the table again, they will put that in their pocket and continue with their policy of divide and destroy."
Under the ICC charter, the U.N. Security Council is empowered to defer the indictment for a year at a time, for as long as it likes. African and Muslim blocs have quietly petitioned the council to defer Gen. Bashir's arrest warrant, despite strong ICC support from European and Latin American ambassadors.
China and Russia, permanent members of the Security Council, import large amounts of oil from Sudan. The 52-nation African Union, newly led by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, also wants a delay of the warrant.
But deferral would require nine votes from the 15-member body and could be vetoed by any of the five permanent members: the U.S., Britain, France, China or Russia.
**I have eliminated the quotes of Alex deWaal and the group, Interaction because I think they are the opposite of helpful.-Mia Farrow