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Darfurians Urge Obama to Arrest Sudan’s Al-Bashir
Alkhabar Staff
21/09/2013
Darfurian Americans urged the Obama Administration to arrest Sudan’s President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir on behalf of the International Criminal Court in a letter Friday.
The letter was sent to President Barack Obama and senior members of his cabinet including Secretary of State, John Kerry, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power.
Washington says it has received Al-Bashir's visa application and described the request as "deplorable." However, the United States is not a member of the Hague-based ICC, so the court would not be legally bound to cooperate. The United States also has a special agreement that allows leaders of U.N. member states to attend the General Assembly.
The letter argues that “the case of Darfur has been referred to the ICC by the United Nations Security Council and the United State is a leading member of the UNSC.
“We have great admiration of the fact that the United States in its domestic laws has strong commitment to accountability for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
Furthermore, the “United States has historically demonstrated its commitment to international justice through all the international tribunals that dealt with crimes of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity around the world.”
The letter said, the Darfurians “believe that al-Bashir’s crimes are crimes of great concern to the American people and those of which the United States has constantly demonstrated its commitment to fight.
“We therefore, urge the president of the United states, The Secretary of States and the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations to stand for Justice for the victims of genocide in Darfur and accountability of perpetrators, by exploring every possible opportunity to deny al-Bashir entry to the U.S. and in case he was allowed to enter to arrest him while in the country.”
“Our confidence is that the U.S. will not spare any effort to bring the long awaited justice for the victims of genocide in Darfur and Sudan at large to fruition.”
The idea of war criminal indictee attending the General Assembly sparked outrage among human rights activists.
The United Nations says more than 300,000 people have died since the conflict erupted in 2003, but Khartoum rejects that figure.
State Department Deputy Spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters in Washington on Thursday that "there are a variety of considerations in play with respect to President Bashir's visa request, including the outstanding warrant for his arrest."
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