Originally published on the CGS blog on September 19, 2007.
I guess I was wrong. Apparently UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon did in fact speak earlier this month with Sudanese President Omar Bashir about his government’s refusal to hand over two suspected war criminals to the ICC.
Evelyn Leopold reports :
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon disclosed on Tuesday he had raised with Sudan’s president the Khartoum government’s refusal to hand over two suspected Darfur war criminals to an international court.
“I raised this issue with President (Omar Hassan) Bashir more than once in a private conversation,” Ban, who visited Sudan earlier this month, told a news conference.
“As my meeting was done in private conversation, I should prefer not to disclose all the details,” he said. “But … I will continue to raise and discuss this matter.”
The Hague-based International Criminal Court in May charged Ahmad Harun with organizing, funding and arming militia to stop rebels from attacking the Sudanese army. The militia then wiped out villages and are now fighting each other over the spoils.
Harun is now the minister of state for humanitarian affairs, which ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo says is akin to putting the man in charge of a crisis he helped foment.
It seems like the Secretary General is doing his best Elmer Fudd impersonation these days — “Shh. Be vewy, vewy quiet. I’m hunting war cwiminals.” I guess that’s why his job is diplomacy, and mine is advocacy. There will be no peace without justice. And in this case, there will be no justice without the ICC.
