Today, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Luis Moreno-Ocampo filed for an arrest warrant for current Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmad al Bashir for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Darfur.  Here is the official press release, and here is the summary of the charges.  The issuing of an arrest warrant for a sitting head of state on such charges would represent a major step forward against impunity for the world’s greatest crimes.

Excerpt from the ICC prosecutor’s press release:

Al BASHIR’s intent to commit genocide became clear with the well coordinated attacks on the 2.450.000 civilians who found a haven in the camps.  “AL BASHIR organized the destitution, insecurity and harassment of the survivors.  He did not need bullets. He used other weapons: rapes, hunger, and fear. As efficient, but silent.” Said the Prosecutor.   

Today, the evidence shows that AL BASHIR, instead of assisting the people of Darfur, has mobilised the entire state apparatus, including the armed forces, the intelligence services, the diplomatic and public information bureaucracies, and the justice system, to subject the 2.450.000 people living in IDP’s camps, most of them members of the target group, to conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.