DARFURI SURVIVORS TO RALLY IN LONDON AS ICC DECIDES ON BASHIR ARREST WARRANT

Today the judges at the ICC will announce whether or not they are going to issue an arrest warrant for Omar Bashir, the President of Sudan, on charges of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide in Darfur.

If a warrant is issued, it will be the first time that such a step has been taken against a sitting head of state. As the ICC judges announce their decision in the Hague, Darfuri survivors will be gathered in capital cities across Europe to remember their murdered loved ones and destroyed communities – the victims of this crisis, whose slaughter demands justice.

London rally. In London, they will congregate for a commemoration outside the Sudanese Embassy from midday to 2.00pm, reading out the names of over a thousand victims and holding a minute’s silence at 1.00pm, the moment the ICC’s decision is announced.

“Khartoum will make a lot of noise that this is a politically motivated assault on the President, and through him, the Sudanese state and Sudanese people,” says Ishag Mekki, Humanitarian Officer for the Darfur Union – the umbrella group for Darfuri exiles living in the UK. “Amid that noise, just remember that on Bashir’s watch, millions of Sudanese men, women and children have been driven from their homes, killed or raped in Darfur. Not because they carry guns, but because of who they are. This is a matter of justice, not politics. And we, the survivors, know how desperately justice is needed.”

Darfur perpetrators implicate Bashir

Ahead of the ICC’s announcement, in a film released by the Aegis Trust (see earlier article) even the perpetrators themselves have begun to speak out against their masters in Khartoum; Janjaweed fighters describing how they call in Government airstrikes before attacking, and soldiers explaining how they were ordered by senior officers to rape girls as young as eleven or twelve.

“The rape and murder of the innocent is completely contrary to the tenets of Islam. It is contrary to basic principles of humanity. And it is a crime in International law. Would you accept it if your loved ones were the victims?”, asks Nejwa Gabir Ahmed, a survivor from Darfur living in the UK. She adds: “Unless the perpetrators are brought to justice, and unless justice is seen to be done, there will never be peace and reconciliation in Darfur. And we, the exiled, will never be able to return to our homeland with peace in our hearts.”

Call to UN Security Council: resist pressure from Khartoum over Article 16

It is widely expected that if the ICC issues an arrest warrant for Omar Bashir, politicians and diplomats in many quarters will increase the pressure for the UN Security Council to invoke Article 16 and suspend the process of international justice for Darfur.

“I ask the decision-makers at the UN Security Council; do not lightly trade away justice for the victims, or give it up in the face of blackmail from Khartoum,” says Darfuri survivor Khatir Mohammed, General Secretary of the Darfur Union. “A murder suspect is not let off the charges if he threatens to go out and kill more people. Nor should Omar Bashir, or any of those suspected of crimes against humanity in Darfur, be allowed to get off the hook by threatening peacekeepers, aid workers or our people in Sudan.”

A new report just released by Aegis, ‘The Enforcement of International Criminal Law’, addresses ways in which the international community could strengthen prospects for enforcement of any arrest warrant against Bashir.