The African Union said Friday a decision by the International Criminal Court to consider adding genocide charges to an arrest warrant for President Omar el-Beshir harms the peace process in Sudan.
"The AU reiterates that the search for justice should be pursued in a manner not detrimental to the search for peace. The latest decision by the ICC runs in the opposite direction," the pan-African body said in a statement.
Appeals judges at the ICC on Wednesday opened the door to charging Sudanese President Omar Hassan Beshir with committing genocide during the country's Darfur conflict.
The judges said the court's pre-trial chamber must decide again on whether to add genocide to the president's charge sheet, reversing an earlier ruling that dismissed the prosecution's genocide case.
The Hague-based court has already issued an arrest warrant for Beshir to face seven counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes relating to the conflict.
Sensitive time
The African Union said the ICC's decision comes at a sensitive time for Sudan -- with elections due to be held in April and a referendum on self-determination for Southern Sudan set for January 2011.
"For the African continent, the successful completion of these processes and, more generally, the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) are of utmost importance," it added.
The AU had asked the U.N. Security Council to defer proceedings against Beshir, but it has yet to do so.
On Tuesday, the 53-member bloc sought an amendment to the Rome Statute establishing the ICC to allow the U.N. General Assembly to defer cases when the Security Council fails to decide on them.
The Sudanese embassy in Addis Ababa on Friday also denounced ICC's latest ruling.
"It is quite obvious that the ICC decision is a more political rather than legal and it is propagated by known circles to Sudan to destabilize the country," a statement said.
The ICC issued the arrest warrant for Beshir on five counts of crimes against humanity and two of war crimes committed in Sudan's war-torn western Darfur region -- its first-ever warrant for a sitting head of state.
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