The International Criminal Court (ICC) is \u201cfrustrated and despaired\u201d about the UN Security Council’s \u201cinaction and paralysis\u201d concerning the arrest of president Omar Al Bashir of Sudan. \u201cWithout stronger action by this Council and States Parties, the situation in Sudan is unlikely to improve\u201d, Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told the Security Council on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in her eighteenth report on the situation in Darfur that the conflict, lasting ten years now, is deteriorating. She noted that aerial bombardments in Darfur and \u201cthe pervasive and corrosive effect of organised sexual and gender-based violence\u201d on women and girls remain seriously under-reported.<\/p>\n
The numbers of people killed, abducted and displaced are growing annually. \u201cThe time has come for this Security Council and States Parties to seriously devise strategies for arresting those alleged to be responsible for these crimes,\u201d Bensouda said.<\/p>\n
In 2009, the ICC issued arrest warrants against Al Bashir and other top officials for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur. The Prosecutor called it a \u201cserious indictment on this Security Council\u201d that Al Bashir and others have shown \u201cblatant disregard\u201d for the Council\u2019s resolutions as they have travelled to various countries without fear of arrest.<\/p>\n
President Al Bashir attended a summit in Kuwait on 18 and 19 November for example, but could return unharmed to Sudan. Kuwait did not execute the ICC’s request for his arrest. The President was also able to travel back and forth to Chad, his last visit dating from May 2013.<\/p>\n
Conflict Darfur cost $10 billion<\/strong><\/p>\n Bensouda concluded in a statement on 5 June 2012 that the ICC should ask UN member states or regional organisations to execute the arrests, instead of Unamid which \u201cshould not be authorised to carry out arrests\u201d. Member states have not complied with the Council’s resolutions so far, and that \u201conly serves to add insult to the plight of Darfur’s victims,\u201d Bensouda complained.<\/p>\n In a report by ABC News, Sudan’s UN Ambassador criticised Bensouda’s statement, saying: “Sudan has established its own special court for issues related to the Darfur conflict and its prosecutor is considering 57 cases.\u201d<\/p>\n The conflict in Darfur has displaced 460,000 people in 2013 alone, and has cost the UN and aid organisations more than $10.5 billion, Bensouda also stressed.<\/p>\n The Security Council did not respond to her sharp criticism. According to the current council president: “We are ready to move forward, but the council is blocked, by some countries.”<\/p>\n News photo: Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda. (UN Photo\/Ryan Brown)<\/em><\/p>\n Related: <\/em>ICC prosecutor reproaches UN for \u2018inaction and paralysis\u2019 on Darfur<\/a> (5 June 2013)<\/em><\/p>\n