Last week the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Louis Moreno-Ocampo, applied for an arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. The ICC announcement was received by the international community with concern that an arrest of a sitting President would jeopardize the ongoing peace process with South Sudan and destabilize the region. Later on in the week a defiant Mr. Bashir said, during a rare visit to Darfur, he was not worried about the accusations leveled against him.
Faud Hikmat, project manager of the Horn of Africa for the International Crisis Group (ICG) told Nightline’s Akwei Thompson the main worry was for the government of Sudan was to find a final settlement for the conflict in Darfur, “…because there is a lot of people suffering in the idp (internally displaced people) camps and that suffering cannot continue…” The focus of the Sudanese government is to find a settlement that could lead to “a sort of peace”, Hikmat said.
The ICC project manager said Mr. Bashir’s meeting with Arab League was part of a shuttle diplomacy in the government’s attempt to mobilize the “friends and different institutions for support “vis a vis the indictment”.
