In Sudan, the Council of Ministers “unanimously” gave the green light on Saturday for a future trial of the accused at the International Criminal Court, ICC. The announcement comes a few weeks after former prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s historic visit to Darfur. This is not yet an order for the transfer of suspects, including former President Omar al-Bashir, but a step towards their trial in The Hague.
The announced decision is primarily political. It is not detailed: it is a general decision “for peace and stability,” said Federal Affairs Minister Butheina Dinar. Neither a timetable nor the names of suspects that can be transferred to the ICC are available.
Above all, however, this decision means that one of the main institutions of the Sudanese Executive Director agrees – and “unanimously” specified the Minister – to remove all obstacles to these transfers. “Unity” was gathered in particular and emphasized that the announcement was approved by the Minister of Defense and thus by the army.
Specifically, if we are to believe in the Sudanese government, it’s all just a matter of “procedure” and three former leaders are worried: the former minister Ahmed Haroun, first, which could be sent before the end of July to The Hague to join former Janjaweed commander Ali Kushayb in an ongoing trial; then former Minister Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein. And in particular the former President Omar al-Bashir, who has already been tried, convicted and imprisoned for corruption cases in Sudan, and to whom the Khartoum government had already given its consent a judgment of the ICC, last year, but after the end of local procedures.
.
