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Sudan Warns Al-Bashir Indictment Will Jeopardize Peace Accord
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Jul 21, 2008 - 8:10:23 AM

Sudan Warns Al-Bashir Indictment Will Jeopardize Peace Accord

By Jason McLure

July 21 (Bloomberg) -- The International Criminal Court's plan to indict Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir will jeopardize a peace accord that ended the North African nation's 21-year civil war, said Sudan's ambassador to the African Union.

Any arrest of al-Bashir may result in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, as the accord is known, not being implemented, Aquei Bona Malwal said in an interview today in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. Malwal is attending an AU Peace and Security Council meeting to discuss the ICC's plans.

``If you arrest al-Bashir today and somebody else comes and doesn't recognize the CPA, who will implement the CPA,'' Malwal said ahead of the meeting.

Muslim northern Sudan and the mainly Christian and animist south signed the CPA in 2005, ending a war in which 2 million people died. The ICC said July 14 it plans to indict al-Bashir for alleged genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Sudan's western region of Darfur, where a five-year conflict has resulted in 300,000 deaths and displaced 2 million people.

Malwal said Sudan's courts are investigating allegations of war crimes in Darfur and will punish anyone found responsible. The AU also has the competence to prosecute alleged war criminals, he said.

``We are saying we will punish impunity,'' Malwal said. ``The AU will punish impunity.''

Sudan will seek the AU council's support in rejecting the ICC's planned indictment, Malwal said, adding that African leaders were concerned that more leaders on the continent may face charges by the United Nations-backed ICC and courts from other countries.

``There is a feeling that Bashir is not the first or last,'' Malwal said.

Sudan is not a signatory to the treaty that established the ICC and said last month it won't cooperate with the court.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jason McLure in Addis Ababa via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.