Obama Administration officials have made several statements in response to Monday’s announcement that the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a second arrest warrant for Sudanese President al-Bashir on three charges of genocide. Despite the fact that the United States is not a party to the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding treaty, the Obama Administration has supported the Hague-based court and has repeatedly called upon Bashir to submit himself to the ICC.
On Tuesday, in an interview the South African Broadcasting Corporation, President Obama stated:
“We think that it is important for the government of Sudan to cooperate with the ICC. We think that it is also important that people are held accountable for the actions that took place in Darfur that resulted in, at minimum, hundreds of thousands of lives being lost. We want to move forward in a constructive fashion in Sudan, but we also think that there has to be accountability, and so we are fully supportive of the ICC.”
In two separate speeches this week, attended by myself and another of my colleagues from Save Darfur, U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan Scott Gration spoke about the United States’ stance regarding the ICC arrest warrant. After hearing his remarks in person, it appears that Gration was misquoted in a Sudan Tribune article which cited another source claiming that Gration stated earlier this week:
“The decision by the ICC to accuse Sudanese president Omer Al-Bashir of genocide will make my mission more difficult and challenging especially if we realize that resolving the crisis in Darfur and South, issues of oil and combating terrorism at a 100%, we need Bashir”.
However, during the forum hosted by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom where Gration supposedly made that statement, a colleague who attended the event clarified that “General Scott Gration did not express dissatisfaction with the ICC’s decision to issue a second warrant for Omar al-Bashir’s arrest. In a response to a question posed by the audience, General Gration said that the ICC’s move would not change his work in Sudan very much. In no part of General Gration’s speech did he say that the arrest warrant on charges of genocide will make his mission more difficult and challenging.”
The above statements make it clear that the Obama Administration not only supports justice and accountability for perpetrators of human rights abuses but also the ICC judicial process. As Philip Crowley, the Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Public Affairs, stated during the State Departments daily press briefing on Monday, it would be good for Bashir “to hire a good lawyer.” These statements of support by the President and others in his administration are most welcome. However, as encouraged in a joint statement issued Monday by the Save Darfur Coalition along with other human rights groups, the United States should now work with other UN Security Council members and ICC states parties to ensure that al-Bashir is apprehended.
Please take action by signing a petition to President Obama and Secretary Clinton to encourage their continued support for justice in Darfur and call on them to prevent any retaliation by the Government of Sudan against Darfuri civilians, aid workers or peacekeepers.
The opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Save Darfur Coalition.
Tags: genocide, ICC, Obama Administration, Omar al-Bashir, Scott Gration, take action, White House
