ICC prosecutor urges Sudan to arrest Bashir

International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo on Friday pressed the Sudanese government to arrest President Omar al-Bashir who stands accused of Darfur war crimes and crimes against humanity.

"The government of Sudan has the responsibility to arrest him (Bashir)," Moreno-Ocampo told the United Nations Security Council, citing a legal obligation stemming from the U.N. Charter and U.N. resolutions.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Bashir at Moreno-Ocampo's request last March but since then the defiant Sudanese leader has made at least seven trips outside Sudan.

"Darfur crimes have to be stopped"

Moreno-Ocampo further told the council that the Sudanese government "has also the duty to arrest" Sudanese ex-minister Ahmad Harun and Janjaweed militia leader Ali Kushayb, both also accused by the ICC of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

He said the recent designation of Haroun as governor of the South Kordofan province "contravenes the resolutions of this council."

"We are at a crossroads," the prosecutor later told reporters. "There's a chance to stop the violence (in Darfur). Crimes have to be stopped."

But Sudan's U.N. Ambassador to the U.N. Abdul Haleem Muhammad once again made clear that "We are not going to cooperate with this politically-motivated court (the ICC)."

He lambasted Moreno-Ocampo as a "mercenary of destruction and death" and a "real threat to peace and stability in Darfur."

"The prosecutor has outlived his usefulness and has become a liability for his own promoters," the Sudanese envoy, with Moreno-Ocampo at his side, told reporters.

The prosecutor has outlived his usefulness and has become a liability for his own promoters

Sudanese Ambassador to the U.N. Abdul Haleem Muhammad

"A matter of time"

Al Arabiya TV earlier reported that Ocampo said Bashir's arrest, although a priority, was on the back burner as the international community focused on the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Darfur and moved to extend the functions of the international forces operating there.

"The arrest of the Sudanese president is a matter of time but for now the current focus in on the situation of the refugees and displaced people," Ocampo told Al Arabiya's New York correspondent Talal Hajj.

Earlier this week Ocampo said the ICC was monitoring rebel groups' use of child soldiers, which he labeled as "a big deal" and said he was mulling whether or not to press for further indictments in Darfur related to allegations of child soldier recruitment.

The conflict in Darfur erupted after rebels took up arms against the government in 2003. U.N. officials say that as many as 300,000 people have died as a result of the conflict, with 2.7 million people displaced. Khartoum says 10,000 have died.

Members of the African Union, Arab League and other nations have expressed concern that Bashir's indictment by the ICC could undermine the fragile peace process in Darfur and have urged the Security Council to intervene and halt the proceedings.

However, the United States, Britain and France, which are permanent veto-wielding council members, have said they see no grounds for deferring Bashir's case.

The arrest of the Sudanese president is a matter of time but for now the current focus in on the situation of the refugees and displaced people

ICC prosecutor