US-Africa clash looms over ICC’s indictment of al-Bashir

Africa and the Obama administration could soon clash in the UN Security Council over an expected war-crimes indictment of Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir.

The African Union is urging the 15-nation council to approve a one-year deferral of the action against President al-Bashir.

Some opponents of the move to arrest the Sudanese president argue that African leaders are being disproportionately targeted in international efforts to punish instigators of atrocities.

But the primary objection centres on fears that a formal indictment of the Sudanese leader by the International Criminal Court (ICC) will serve to undermine the aim of halting violence in the country’s Darfur region.

The Khartoum government could retaliate for ICC charges against its leader by more forcefully resisting UN peacemaking initiatives in Sudan, African leaders warn.

UN forces are currently deployed in both Darfur and Southern Sudan, which could become another pressure point if Khartoum responds aggressively to the ICC’s indictment of President al-Bashir, which is likely to be handed down soon.

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete set forth the AU position in a speech last September at UN headquarters in New York.

Citing possible threats to UN peacekeepers and relief workers in Darfur, President Kikwete said, “The African Union sees deferment as the most expedient thing to do now.”

The Obama administration, by contrast, wants the ICC to proceed with its charges against President al-Bashir, who is accused of leading a campaign that took the lives of more than 100,000 civilians in Darfur.

“We support the ICC in its pursuit of those who’ve perpetrated war crimes,” Ben Chang, a spokesman for the US national security advisor, told The Washington Times last week. “We see no reason to support deferral at this time.”

Under the treaty that established the International Criminal Court, the UN Security Council can defer an ICC indictment for one year at a time with the support of at least nine of its 15 members.

But any of the council’s five permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the US — can veto a deferral.

Africa is currently represented on the council by Uganda, Burkina Faso and Libya, whose leader, Muammar Gaddafi, currently chairs the AU.

Support for the prosecution of President al-Bashir highlights the Obama team’s stated intention of intensifying Washington’s efforts to bring an end to the killings in Darfur.

“We are going to be very strong and energetic in an effort to deal effectively with this ongoing genocide and to make it very clear that the behaviour of the government of Sudan is simply unacceptable and something we condemn,” Susan Rice, the new US envoy to the UN said recently. “There is no ambiguity or grey in that.”

A diplomatic clash between the AU, backed on this issue by the Arab League, and the Obama administration would not be something either side wants at the outset of what both view as a hopeful new era in American dealings with the developing world.

But such a battle does appear likely to develop unless one of the parties changes course.

The prospect of Sudan’s head of state being arraigned as an accused war criminal has also sparked disputes among human rights activists.

“Hold off this loopy idea of prosecuting the head of state who has signed the absolutely pivotal peace agreement,” said Alex de Waal, an Africa specialist who served as an advisor during negotiations that led to the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement ending the long war in Southern Sudan.

“How do you negotiate with someone and then say, ‘We’re going to drag you off to jail?’” Mr de Waal asked in comments quoted by The Washington Times. “The guy’s a criminal, but that’s not the point.”

Many Darfur-focused activists in the US do favour the ICC action against President al-Bashir.

“Nobody, including the current head of state of Sudan, should be protected from prosecution for the most serious crimes under international law,” said Amnesty International director Larry Cox.