- Title: FRANCE: ICC prosecutor says Darfur genocide must be exposed
- Date: 14th July 2010
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (JULY 13, 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF PARIS HOTEL WHERE NEWS CONFERENCE WAS HELD VARIOUS OF NEWS CONFERENCE GIVEN BY INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (ICC) PROSECUTOR LUIS MORENO OCAMPO (SOUNDBITE) (English) INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (ICC) PROSECUTOR LUIS MORENO OCAMPO SAYING: "Basically there is an ongoing genocide in Darfur and the world is failing to react properly, so this court decision provides a new chance to Darfurians to be protected." SCREEN WITH ICC LOGO (SOUNDBITE) (English) INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (ICC) PROSECUTOR LUIS MORENO OCAMPO SAYING: "The charge of genocide implies three different things : first, expose the fact, expose the reality that al-Bashir is denying the reality, he is denying that he committed crimes and at the same time he is threatening to commit new crimes in Darfur, but also in the south. He has appointed his man, Haroun, who was crucial in the genocide in Darfur and now he is appointed in the South - second, Darfurians at least have recognition, we know what has happened to them and third, legal issue. Now it is not just the ICC or Security Council it's the genocide convention applies and there are states who are not members of ICC treaty but they are members of the genocide convention, in particular U.S., China and Russia." NEWS CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 29th July 2010 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: France
- Country: France
- Reuters ID: LVA7YQTC6COYDSP5LJ8RMA37PC75
- Story Text: International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo on Tuesday (July 13) warned that the world was not doing enough to prevent what he said was the genocide taking place in Darfur.
Moreno Ocampo was speaking after the ICC issued a second arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for orchestrating genocide in Darfur, where as many as 300,000 people have died since 2003.
"Basically there is an ongoing genocide in Darfur and the world is failing to react, so this court decision provides a new chance to Darfurians to be protected," he told reporters at a news conference in Paris.
The genocide charge follows an ICC arrest warrant issued against Bashir in March 2009 for war crimes and crimes against humanity. He has dismissed the court's claims.
Bashir says the allegations made by the ICC, the world's first permanent court for prosecuting war crimes, are part of a Western conspiracy. The ICC warrant was the first issued against a sitting head of state by the court.
Moreno Ocampo said: "The charge of genocide implies three different things : first expose the fact, expose the reality that al-Bashir is denying the reality, he is denying that he committed crimes and at the same time he is threatening to commit new crimes in Darfur, but also in the South." said Ocampo.
Moreno Ocampo said Bashir had appointed Ahmed Haroun, who was crucial to the genocide in Darfur, to take a position in southern Sudan, Moreno Ocampo said members of the genocide convention including the United States, China and Russia were adding their voice to ICC and U.N. Security Council criticism of the Darfur crisis.
Sudan's ambassador to the U.N has called the new warrant a "malignant and desperate attempt" to destablise the country.
Bashir remains at large as the ICC has no police force and depends on national authorities and states that have signed up to the court to make arrests. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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