ICC prosecutor targets Sudan UN ambassador

International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo on Tuesday clashed with a top Sudanese diplomat at the UN Security Council, threatening an investigation into the envoy’s defense of alleged war crimes in Darfur.Moreno-Ocampo, who stands down as ICC chief prosecutor in two weeks, called on the Security Council to take tougher action to detain President Omar al-Bashir and other Sudanese officials wanted for war crimes and genocide in Darfur.Sudan’s UN ambassador accused the prosecutor, however, of investigating for “political motives” and giving “wrong information” about the conflict in which the UN says more than 300,000 people have died since 2003.Sudan rejected all of Moreno-Ocampo’s recommendations, said ambassador Daff-Alla Elhag Ali Osman.Following the fiery attack, Moreno-Ocampo said his office would investigate the ambassador’s comments.“His activities denying the crimes in Darfur could be considered part of the crimes,” Moreno-Ocampo told the council.The ICC will “investigate if Mr Daff-Alla Elhag Ali Osman’s denial of the crimes committed could be considered a contribution to the perpetrators, acting with a common purpose.”He said “appropriate measures” would be taken if investigators decided there was a case for a formal inquiry.Moreno-Ocampo told the Security Council the failure to detain Bashir and other Sudanese officials accused of war crimes and genocide was “a direct challenge to the council’s authority.”He said the council should consider calling on all 193 UN member states and regional organizations to carry out the arrest warrants.Under current rules only ICC members have a duty to arrest Bashir, who has been to several countries, including some court signatories, without any action being taken.Moreno-Ocampo admitted however that such a move would be “problematic”. Only six of the 15 council members are ICC members and China opposes sanctions against the Sudanese government.Outside of the Security Council hearing, Moreno-Ocampo said development aid money should be cut off for countries which host Bashir.Sudan’s UN ambassador slammed the prosecutor at the meeting, accusing him of using “terrorist” activities.“He speaks as if he were a president of the world, issuing his instructions to the Security Council establishing options of which he will speak at the proper time,” said Osman.“There is no accountability system for the prosecutor which prompted him to deviate from credibility and legal professionalism,” he said.“All the claims that he has amassed based on a political motive, that what happened in Darfur was an ethnic cleansing, have been refuted by prominent international personalities,” the envoy added.The Security Council approved an ICC investigation into the Darfur conflict in 2005. While the UN says at least 300,000 people have died in Darfur over the past decade, the Sudan government puts the figure at 10,000 dead.