Sudan: The Sudanese government should be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged crimes against humanity in Darfur, a United Nations-commissioned report has concluded.
But the study, which is expected to be debated by the UN Security Council today, falls short of describing the situation in the western region of Sudan as genocide. The report by a five-member commission, headed by the Italian judge Antonio Cassese, is due to be published today.
The study was set up by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in October to investigate whether genocide was being conducted in Darfur, where tens of thousands have been killed and 1.8 million displaced.
A UN source said yesterday the commission's conclusion was that the testimony they took did not amount to proof of genocide.
"But it does say crimes against humanity of an ethnic nature have been committed and recommends going to the ICC," the source said.
A diplomat described the commission's findings as "hard-hitting". Another diplomat close to the Security Council said: "The Sudanese government is not getting off."
The report includes a confidential annexe naming members of the Sudanese military and government which the commission identifies as perpetrators of the alleged crimes.
Although the Sudanese government was given a copy of the report in advance, the UN withheld the confidential annexe.
The members of the commission told diplomats they did not want to prejudice the outcome of any trial by publishing the names.
They also said that the testimony they took was not under oath and therefore would not stand up in court, and that a more thorough investigation with a view to trial would be needed.
The Sudanese Foreign Minister, Mustafa Osman Ismail, said in Abuja, Nigeria: "We have a copy of that report and they didn't say there is a genocide."
A conclusion that genocide was being committed would have imposed an obligation on the international community to intervene in Darfur.
The Sudanese government, though relieved it is not being accused of genocide, is to dispute the findings.
Referral to the ICC poses a dilemma for the US. Washington wants action against the Sudanese government but it has boycotted the ICC because it refuses to allow anyone other than US courts to have jurisdiction over American troops who might, in theory, be accused of war crimes.
But the US may find the ICC, which has all the staff and logistics in place, a preferable option to the creation of an independent tribunal similar to the one on Rwanda which Washington has criticised as being too expensive.
The international community has been torn on the Darfur issue, with some urging economic sanctions or military intervention against the government while others, including Britain, have urged a carrot-and-stick approach, trying to cajole the government into resolving the crisis. - ( Guardian Service)