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 الاستاذ صالح محمود عثمان : العدالة والسلام فى دارفور
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Justice and Peace in Darfur
by Salih Mahmoud Osman
On February 27, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), named two individuals suspected of being responsible for some of the bloodletting in Darfur. Despite the thousands dead and the millions displaced, this is the only judicial action the international community has taken to date to stop the carnage. For those of us who have lived through the horrors of Darfur, this is most certainly not enough, but it is a crucial first step to achieve a sustainable end to the violence in Darfur.
The two singled out in the ICC's initial presentation of evidence -- Ahmad Muhammad Harun, minister for humanitarian affairs who is a junior member of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir's government, and Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, a member of the Janjaweed -- represent the two pillars of state and proxy militia that are to blame for the death and destruction in Darfur. Moreno-Ocampo's finding against Harun marks the first time that the ICC has cited a government official for crimes against humanity and war crimes. This alone is a profound step forward for those of us who struggle every day to put an end to the worst crimes imaginable.
But these announcements, although welcome, are not sufficient. Moreno-Ocampo must initiate a sequence of cases that will bring to light the extent and rapaciousness of what has been done to Darfur and its people -- and move further up the chain of command to those ultimately responsible. The current list is simply too short and aims too low.
Celebrations were loud in camps for the displaced last year, when Moreno-Ocampo announced he would commence an investigation; for the very first time there was a noticeable decline in aerial bombardment and militia attacks on civilians. But as time passed and no further impact of the ICC's investigation was seen on the ground, the situation in Darfur deteriorated significantly, fueled by a culture of impunity and the failure of the political processes.
Former U.S. State Department official Stephen Rademaker, writing in the Washington Post in January, joined those who suggest that the ICC is somehow an obstacle to peace in Darfur and that the government of Sudan's vehement resistance to the deployment of UN troops, for example, is linked to concern about the implementation of future arrest warrants. Certainly the reality of potential indictments colors the climate of calculation for the government. But for us -- the people of Darfur who are survivors and victims of this ongoing catastrophe -- there is no confusion between peace and justice. We believe that accountability must be an essential component of any campaign to "save Darfur" and cannot be separated from political negotiations, deployment of peacekeepers or humanitarian efforts.
More than 4 million Darfurians have been directly affected by this crisis and some 500,000 are dead. Many have been killed by the government's aerial bombardment, which has been in concert with Janjaweed militias on the ground. More than 2,000 villages have been burned. Thousands of women and girls have been victims of rape. Our land has been depopulated and invaded.
These heinous offenses constitute crimes against humanity, war crimes and possibly genocide. Justice along with security is the only way to stop the cycle of impunity and violence.
The Sudanese judicial system is incapable of delivering justice to us in Darfur. International crimes are not adequately recognized under our national laws. Impenetrable immunity renders cases against members of the military and security forces almost impossible to pursue. Even the new special courts set up last year in Darfur have only heard a handful of cases, and none relating to the most serious crimes committed during this crisis.
Victims and survivors in Darfur want the international community to support the ICC investigation. In fact, many refugees have said that justice is not only a precondition for return but also necessary for the consolidation of the political process. They believe that accountability is a vital link in building peace and trust -- and deterring future crimes.
The people of Darfur are not willing to sacrifice their legal right to justice to political bartering. The Sudanese government, on the other hand, is eager to seal a deal that exempts them from accountability. The government has opportunistically hinted that its reluctance to consent to a United Nations deployment to Darfur stems from fears that UN forces will be able to execute ICC arrest warrants. We cannot accept these insinuations at face value. Let us remember that the North-South peace pact has already mandated the deployment of 10,000 UN peacekeepers in Sudan. If the government of Sudan is unperturbed by the first deployment, why should it be concerned about the second? The vital difference this time is that UN peacekeepers in Darfur would shore up the efforts of a weakened African Union force -- and create a context in which there would be much less room to maneuver for those intent on continuing the war.
In fact, Sudanese leaders know very well that the key to avoiding trials in The Hague is entirely in their hands. If fair and effective prosecutions of those most responsible for international crimes are commenced in Sudan, the ICC can halt its work. A basic principle of the ICC process is that genuine prosecutions at the national level will trump prosecutions abroad.
What Darfurians therefore need from the international community is not compromise on the ICC. We need you to encourage a sustainable peace process and an agreement to which all parties can assent. We need to see you support the deployment of more international troops to Darfur and to Chad, backed up by sufficient resources and a clear mandate to protect civilians. Finally, the voices of ordinary Darfurians demanding justice must be heard. We want to see the international community supporting the ICC process. Any attempt to sacrifice justice not only validates the false dichotomy between peace and justice but undermines the potential for a sustainable end to the crisis.
Salih Mahmoud Osman is a member of the Sudanese National Parliament, and a human rights advocate from Darfur. His work has been recognized by, among others, Human Rights Watch and the American Bar Association.
Copyright © 2007 The Nation
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Released: 07 March 2007
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Re: الاستاذ صالح محمود عثمان : العدالة والسلام فى دارفور (Re: Khalid Kodi)
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“The small steps strategy”
of the ICC in Darfur
I N T E R V I E W
Antonio Cassese, former president of the United
Nations Commission of Inquiry on Darfur
Independent newsletter on international criminal justice, published twice a month
Law professor at the University of Florence in Italy and the first president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Antonio Cassese presided over the United Nation’s Commission of Inquiry on Darfur. The Commission’s January 25, 2005 report led to the referral of the case to the International Criminal Court (ICC). In this interview, Cassese reacts to ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo’s February 27 announcement of the initial results from his Darfur
investigation.
The prosecutor is asking the pre-trial chamber to subpoena Ahmad Muhammad Harun, formerly in charge of Darfur at the Sudanese Ministry of the Interior, and Ali Muhammed Ali Abd-al-Rahman alias “Ali Kushayb”, former head of the Janjaweed Arab militia. Do these names surprise you?
They were individuals that we were quite familiar with, that we’d even included on our list of 51 people who in our opinion should be criminally investigated and prosecuted. So I am not surprised at all. I was more surprised by the fact that the prosecutor started with mid-level individuals. Harun was only assistant Secretary of State. At the time we met him,we had a very long interview with him, of course. Since then, he became secretary of state for humanitarian affaires... It’s ridiculous, because we’ve already gathered quite a bit of evidence indicating that he was one of the architects of the massacres committed by the janjaweed.
Is he one of the brains?
No, the brains are higher up. He was a very good civil servant who really knew how to organize things. He had taken orders, he had organized the Janjaweed well, and thus the relations between the authorities in Khartoum and the Arab militia. He was involved in organizing these crimes, but he was not a high up leader. He was not part of the small group of 12 people that we have pointed out and who in our opinion had planned and ordered the crimes.The other suspect, Ali Kushayb, his name was also on our list. But there as well we are not talking about a major player. He is currently an assis- tance of police. Like many of the militiamen, he was incorporated into the Sudanese police. These are minor players.
What’s the explanation for these choices?
I believe that Moreno Ocampo has decided to adopt the small step strategy, a very gradual strategy, not to go directly looking for the major players who did the planning but to start at the bottom.And maybe he plans on going up the chain of command little by little… I was also struck by the fact that he did not ask for arrest warrants but subpoenas. The president of Sudan has said several times that he will never allow a Sudanese citizen to be brought before the ICC, so he has already refused to cooperate. Better to ask for arrest warrants, since they will never be carried out, so as to go directly before the United Nations Security Council. That would have dramatized the situation. Fortunately this was brought before the chamber presided over by Judge Claude Jorda because I think he will realize that this doesn’t make sense and he’ll issue the arrest warrants.
Is the prosecutor trying to avoid antagonizing Sudan so that it doesn’t interfere with United Nations and African Union efforts to field a peace keeping force in Darfur?
I don’t know about all that, but I am sure that Moreno Ocampo is very independent. No, I am sure that is part of his strategy, the small step strategy. He has taken his time, 20 months in fact, to gather the evidence… The other thing I don’t understand is why he didn’t ask Sudan to authorize him to go to Darfur from the beginning. He said that the point was to ensure the protection of victims and witnesses. Of course, that’s a fundamental requirement. But one can ask the authorities in Khartoum to allow ICC investigators to go to Darfur and ensure that no one touches the victims or witnesses. For our commission, from the start I insisted on going to Darfur. They said okay, we will cooperate. Since then, the people we have met remain under our protection.
Isn’t the situation very different for the ICC?
Of course. Our report made a very harsh finding: no genocide but crimes against humanity. And, of course, Khartoum’s position has stiffened… But I have never seen a document of the prosecutor formally asking for cooperation. If there had been a refusal, it could have been referred to New York. And then he also said, “I’m not planning on going to Darfur because it is dangerous for my people.” In an official document I replied that he could have asked the authorities to ensure security and send the military to protect the prosecutor and his investigators, at least in the three major cities of Darfur, like we did [IJT-55]. But he prefers to adopt this very different strategy – which I respect because he has good reasons – not to be confrontation from the outset and to hope for cooperation from Khartoum.
Despite it all, has he gathered enough evidence?
I read the 100 page document that the prosecutor made public, and I want to underline that he did excellent work. It’s a very detailed document, and I am on the same wave length regarding the content of the charges. Yes, as far as the two people whom he is requesting be accused, he did excellent work.
What could the impact be?
I don’t know. Since it’s a small step, the impact is small too. If it had been a big step, for example, accusing individuals at a very high level, then the impact would
have been much stronger. If Judge Jorda issues arrest warrants like I hope, they won’t be carried out by Khartoum, and then the prosecutor will have to go to
New York. This takes a fair amount of time… one month, two months. But you know, as far as international criminal justice is concerned, the Security Council
is a paper tiger.We saw it with Mladic and Karadzic in the former Yugoslavia. Belgrade did not carry out the decisions of the Security Council. Moscow is behind
Belgrade and Beijing is behind Sudan. No, I don’t see a significant legal impact.
How about politically?
These are neither bigwigs nor small fries, but mid-level individuals, who do not have a large impact on international opinion. It’s not by accident that Khartoum withdrew Harun from power somewhat by putting him in Humanitarian Affairs. But he is someone who will not be brought before the ICC. Yesterday I looked at the list of current ministers – I saw that the Ministers of Defense and Foreign affairs are no longer in their positions. They are among the twelve special advisors to the president. That’s very interesting, because that came following our report. Because if our report was read well, it was clear who was implicated. The 51 names were not given, but it indicated that twelve key individuals were part of the government.And I imagine that an intelligent person could draw conclusions by reading between the lines. We aimed very high.
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Re: الاستاذ صالح محمود عثمان : العدالة والسلام فى دارفور (Re: Khalid Kodi)
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الاخ صالح
لا اجد حرجا في القول بتأييدي تولي المدعي العام الاممي للتحقيق ، كما لا اجد حرجا في ان تتولى محاكمة من جر التحقيق اسمائهم الان وما تسفر عنه التحقيقات مستقبلا ان تتولى محامتهم محكمة مجرمي الحرب في لاهاي ، ذلك ان النسخة السودانية من المدعي العام ( المرضي ) لم تسعفه الشجاعة حتى في التحقيق فيما نسب لاحد رجلين ممن اعلنت اسمائهم ليقوم - عوضا عن ذلك - بالدفاع عنه ويعلن براءته .
اما القضاء السوداني فهو قضاء مسيس ، فرئيس القضاء يتبوأ دون حياء عضوية هيئة شورى المؤتمر الوطني ، الحزب الذي ينتمي له معظم قضاته الذين تم تعيينهم من كوادر الحزب بالجامعات و استجلابهم من دول المهجر وسلك المحاماة .
مع خالص شكري
سيف الدوله
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Khalid Kodi
saif addawla
فيس بوك
تويتر
انستقرام
يوتيوب
بنتيريست