The International Criminal Court (ICC) made Sudan's future uncertain yesterday by issuing an international arrest warrant against the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, calling on him to appear before the court. Al-Bashir was accused with being directly involved in the war crimes and the crimes against humanity in the region of Darfur. The warrant was based on a request by ICC Public Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo. Such a decision forewarns a deterioration of the security situation across the country, and threatens to deal a mortal blow to the peace agreement between Khartoum and the South and to trigger a new wave of violence in Darfur. According to the warrant, the first of its kind since the ICC saw the light in 2002, al-Bashir is unofficially indicted with the crimes in Darfur. The warrant also refers to the illicit campaigns which took place in the region and adds that Bashir dominated all the governmental bodies which participated in those campaigns. Al-Bashir was charged with committing war crimes against civilians and exterminating, forcibly transferring, torturing and raping them. The ICC, though, said genocide was not included in the charges. The ICC called on member and non-member states to cooperate with it, stressing that if Sudan did not, the file would be referred to the Security Council. Ocambo said he was ready for the worst case scenarios and affirmed that al-Bashir from that moment on would be wanted by the ICC. He added that if Sudan's president refused to appear before the Court, he would have to be arrested and it would be possible to monitor his plane and arrest him if he traveled to another country. He also affirmed that the Sudanese government was obliged to implement the warrant. As soon as the warrant was issued, the Sudanese government described it as a new colonialist plan and said it would not deal with the ICC after that. In a sign of defiance, Khartoum declared that al-Bashir would take part in the next Arab Summit in Doha. The rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), for its part, described the warrant as a great victory and a memorable day for the Sudanese people and Darfur. The JEM and the Sudan Liberation Movement-Unity said they were ready to ward off the governmental army if it attacked civilians. The US State Department said it approved the warrant and affirmed that the perpetrators of brutal crimes had to appear before the ICC. Moscow, for its part, said this set a dangerous precedent. Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit voiced his country's annoyance about the warrant and its negative repercussions on the peace in Sudan and Darfur. He also called for an emergency meeting of the Security Council to discuss the possibility of putting off the implementation of the warrant. The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) described the arrest warrant as historic for justice, while the Arab Center for the Independence of Judiciary said this arrest warrant put an end to an era of political immunity for war criminals in Darfur. Mass demonstrations were staged in Khartoum to criticize the arrest warrant, while the international forces in Darfur said they would continue their mission in spite of security tensions and the stepping up of Sudanese forces deployed and ready to flex their muscles. The army threatened to firmly treat all those dealing with the so-called destabilizing ICC.
