THE HAGUE, Netherlands: Sudan could be plunged further into turmoil if the International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir on genocide and war crimes charges, the country's foreign minister said Thursday.
Deng Alor said peace efforts in Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region and a peace agreement that ended more than two decades of conflict in the country's south — Africa's longest civil war — could unravel if the court orders al-Bashir's arrest.
In July, ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo asked judges to issue an arrest warrant for al-Bashir. Prosecutors allege al-Bashir leads a campaign of genocide in Darfur. Judges are expected to announce their decision within weeks.
At the time, observers warned that going after al-Bashir was a high-risk strategy that could harm peace prospects in Darfur and hinder the full deployment of a joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force in the region.
An arrest warrant "could generate some internal political instability, further political instability," Alor told reporters in The Hague after meeting his Dutch counterpart, Maxime Verhagen.
"It could prolong the war in Darfur. It could put a brake to the implementation of the comprehensive peace agreement (in the south)," Alor said. "There are so many things that could happen."
Five years of fighting in Darfur between rebels and militias backed by government troops has killed up to 300,000 people and forced 2.5 million to flee their homes.
Last week Sudanese troops killed 31 people, including seven children and 10 women, in a Darfur refugee camp. The government said the shootings happened on a raid to confiscate illegal weapons and that it has set up an investigation.
Al-Bashir has rejected the International Criminal Court's jurisdiction and vowed to never hand over a Sudanese citizen for trial in The Hague.
The court already has issued arrest warrants for Sudan's Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ahmed Harun and for a commander in the government-backed Janjaweed militia on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Alor is a member of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, a former southern rebel group that is now al-Bashir's wary partner in a unity government formed under a fragile 2005 peace deal and supports cooperation with the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal.
He said a government "crisis committee" is discussing how to respond if the court orders al-Bashir's arrest.
"We hope we reach agreement, consensus within the government before the ICC comes with an arrest warrant," Alor said.
Florence Olara, a spokeswoman for prosecutors at the court, said no prosecutors planned to meet with Alor while he was in The Hague.
