The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) , Fatou Bensouda, has urged the UN Security Council to persuade Sudan of the necessity to allow the court’s investigators to access the country in order to carry out tasks related to the investigation of the Darfur case without further delay.
“I reiterate this call and urge this Council to impress upon Sudan the urgent need for my investigators to access its territory and in particular, to conduct investigative missions in Darfur without further delay,” she told the UN Security Council in a briefing on Thursday.
Bensouda reaffirmed that the outstanding ICC arrest warrants against Messrs Omar Al Bashir, Ahmad Harun, Abdel Raheem Muhammad Hussein, and Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain remain in full force.
ICC has not received any official confirmation
ICC prosecutor said that to date, her office had not received any official confirmation by the competent authorities of Sudan on what actions they intended to take in relation to the remaining ICC suspects, who, with the exception of Mr Banda, are reportedly in their custody.
“I take this opportunity to appeal to this Council and through you, to the authorities of the Government of the Sudan, to intensify the dialogue with my Office in relation to these outstanding warrants” Bansouta added .
She stressed sthat all the ICC suspects are brought to justice through fair, objective and independent proceedings, either before the Court, or in Sudanese courts, guided by the requirements of the Rome Statute.
“This Council can play a decisive role in expediting this process and ensuring Sudan’s full, prompt and tangible cooperation with the ICC, consistent with its international obligations. The victims of atrocity crimes in Darfur deserve to finally see real progress in the pursuit of justice” she further added.
Fatou said had hoped that her team would have travelled to Sudan in November for an operational assessment mission to pave the way for fully fledged investigative activities immediately thereafter. Unfortunately, this mission was postponed at the request of the Sudanese authorities.
“No new dates have been offered and the window of opportunity to conduct investigations prior to Mr Abd-Al-Rahman’s confirmation of charges hearing is rapidly closing” ICC prosecutor said .
“Sudan’s immediate facilitation of access to its territory would demonstrate to victims, to the Sudanese people and to the international community including this Council, that Sudan seriously intends to implement the principles adopted in the Juba Peace Agreement and this Council’s Resolution which referred the situation of Darfur to my Office” Bansouta added
For his part. Ambassador Omar Muhammad Ahmed Siddiq, the permanent representative of Sudan to the United Nations, said that the Public Prosecution in Sudan “continues to investigate Al-Bashir and the rest of the detainees Abdul Rahim Muhammad Hussein and Ahmed Haroun in the criminal cases attributed to them regarding the situation in Darfur since 2003.”