Sudan's Bashir Should Be Held Accountable, Says Clinton

05 March 2009

Documents & Texts from America.gov

By David McKeeby
Staff Writer

Washington — After an international court issued an arrest warrant for Sudan President Omar al-Bashir for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called for calm and reiterated America’s commitment to peace, justice and security for Africa’s largest country.

“Governments and individuals who either conduct or condone atrocities of any kind, as we have seen year after year in Sudan, have to be held accountable,” Clinton told reporters March 4. “We are going to hope that there is not any increased violence on the part of the government in Khartoum.”

Earlier in the day, the International Criminal Court in The Hague indicted Bashir on two counts of war crimes and five counts of crimes against humanity for his government’s alleged targeting of civilians during its 2003–2008 campaign against rebel groups in Sudan’s western Darfur region.

“He is suspected of being criminally responsible … for intentionally directing attacks against an important part of the civilian population of Darfur, Sudan,” the international court said in a press release, “murdering, raping, torturing, and forcibly transferring large numbers of civilians and pillaging their property.”

At least 300,000 people have been killed in the conflict and 2.7 million others have been driven from their homes, according to the United Nations. American officials have joined many in the international community in calling Bashir’s actions “genocide.” International court officials did not include that charge, but stressed that the indictment could be amended to include genocide based on the case presented by prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

“Those who committed atrocities in Sudan, including genocide, should be brought to justice,” Susan Rice, America’s ambassador to the United Nations, said in a written statement. “The people of Sudan have suffered too much for too long.”

The United States is the leading international donor to Sudan, contributing more than $5 billion in humanitarian, development, peacekeeping and reconstruction assistance. It has actively supported a U.N.-African Union mediation initiative in Darfur, as well as efforts to implement the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended a 12-year civil war between northern and southern Sudan.

Sudan’s government has rejected the international court’s indictment, staging mass protests and ordering the expulsion of at least 10 major international humanitarian relief organizations currently serving 2.7 million displaced people in Darfur.

While it remains to be seen if Bashir — the first sitting president to be served a world court arrest warrant — will be delivered to The Hague, U.S. officials urge both the Sudanese government and rebel groups to exercise restraint. “No one should use the [International Criminal Court’s] decision as a pretext to incite or launch violence against civilians or international personnel,” Rice said.

President Obama recently voiced his support for Darfur during a meeting with the actor George Clooney, who has been a vocal advocate for the people of Darfur and a peaceful negotiation of the humanitarian crisis in Sudan. A February 24 posting on the White House Web site following the meeting reported that “bringing relief to the battered region of Darfur is a top priority of the administration, the president and vice president assured the actor and activist George Clooney last night.” (See “Ending Violence in Darfur Remains a Top Challenge for Obama.”)

“The [International Criminal Court] issued an indictment based on a very long investigation, and it is now in a judicial system,” Clinton said. “If he believes that the indictment is wrongly charged, he can certainly contest it.”

A transcript of Clinton’s remarks, the full text of Rice's statement and the full text of a State Department statement on the indictment are available on America.gov.

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What actions do you think President Obama should take to promote peace in Sudan? Comment on America.gov’s blog.