Former US special envoy to Sudan warns against ICC Darfur indictments

June 26, 2008 (WASHINGTON) — The former US special envoy to Sudan Andrew Natsios warned that the upcoming indictments by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Darfur pose a threat to the stability of Sudan.


US special envoy to Sudan Andrew Natsios attends an international conference on the situation in war-torn Darfur in the Libyan capital Tripoli, 15 July 2007 (AFP)

“If the ICC goes ahead with the threat mentioned in the newspapers that they will indict further senior figures within the Sudanese government then we will drive the country closer to dissolution” Natsios said at a forum in the US Institute for Peace last week on Sudan.

Natsios disclosed for the first time that he held a recent meeting with the ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

“I spent a day with Mr. Ocampo. I will not tell you where but with other mediators from other conflicts. This was after I left office” the former US diplomat said.

Natsios said that during his discussions with the ICC prosecutor he explained to Ocampo the negative impact of pursuing senior Sudanese officials on the peace process.

However the ICC prosecutor did not agree with Natsios’s arguments.

“The view of the ICC tribunal is that they don’t care. They said we are not interested in diplomacy of this. It is none of our business. They said all we care about is that there should be no impunity” Natsios said.

The ICC prosecutor is due to present evidence on a new case to the judges within the coming weeks.

"The Office anticipates that it will be able to present a new application under Article 58 of the Statute to the Judges by July 2008" the prosecutor said in his report to the UN Security Council (UNSC) earlier this month.

In his report to the UNSC, Ocampo made his harshest condemnation of Khartoum saying that he collected evidence of a “criminal plan based on the mobilization of the whole state apparatus, including the armed forces, the intelligence services, the diplomatic and public information bureaucracies, and the justice system”.

The judges of the ICC issued their first arrest warrants for suspects accused of war crimes in Sudan’s Darfur region a year ago.

The warrants were issued for Ahmed Haroun, state minister for humanitarian affairs, and militia commander Ali Mohamed Ali Abdel-Rahman, also know as Ali Kushayb. Sudan has so far rejected handing over the two suspects.

Ocampo said that his office is investigating who “is maintaining Haroun in a position to commit crimes; who is instructing him and others”.

The statements by Ocampo were taken to suggest that he is going after senior Sudanese officials.

But Natsios said that the ICC indictments has and will complicate matters in the cases it is handling.

“My view then and it is now; the first priority is a peaceful settlement of this so we don’t have another catastrophe. The notion that we are going to kill 300,000 or 400,000 in order to get someone indicted, who will never get indicted anyway. They are not going to go on trial. It is crazy, it doesn’t make any sense for the Sudanese people” Natsios added.

“It may make us all feel better and it may establish a view that this won’t happen again because we are punishing some people. That is not what the reality is. The reality is the ICC indictments in Northern Uganda are postponing a peace settlement” he added.

The former US envoy also said that fear of trial is preventing settlements elsewhere in Africa.

“We know what is going on in Zimbabwe. The major factor why Mugabe [Zimbabwean president] will not agree to some compromise is the Charles Taylor factor. They are afraid that the senior leadership will go on trial. That is the fear” he said

“From a human rights perspective what is most important for the people of Zimbabwe is a settlement of this. This is true in Uganda and in Sudan as well” Natsios stressed.

Alex De Waal a longtime Sudan expert who was part of the panel shared Natsios’s views on the ICC with regards to Darfur.

“I am gravely concerned on the strategy of the prosecutor that goes beyond any reasonable expectations of evidence. I haven’t seen his evidence obviously but one has to read what he said to the UNSC to have a fair idea of what he [Ocampo] has in mind” De Waal said.

He further said that the indicting senior Sudanese officials will mean Western countries which are members of the ICC will have to cease dealing with these figures jeopardizing programs linked to peace agreements throughout the country.

This week a senior Sudanese official told Sudan Tribune on condition of anonymity that the leadership of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) “is getting very nervous over the upcoming announcement by the ICC of new suspects”.

He said that the NCP is considering handing over two Darfur suspects Haroun and Kushayb to the ICC “as a protection from further indictments”.

Sudan has not ratified the Rome Statue, but the UN Security Council (UNSC) invoked the provisions under the Statue that enables it to refer situations in non-State parties to the world court if it deems that it is a threat to international peace and security.

(ST)

3 Forum messages

Former US special envoy to Sudan warns against ICC Darfur indictments 27 June 2008 12:14, by Akol Liai Mager

Mr Natsios must keep his nose out of Darfur issue. He resigned from his position as US envoy to the conflict in Darfur. US’ President accepted his resignation and yet Natsios needs to create a new position for himself as ICC’s adviser on Darfur war crimes.

Natsios has adapted himself to the views of Not-Nafie Ali Not-Nafie and Mustafa Osman Ismael who told him that "NIF will turn Sudan upside down if they are prosecuted by the ICC".

Sudanese people, ICC, Human Rights watch and other world’s civillised people do not afford the killing of Darfur population if Mr Natsios, Condollizza Rice and NIF in Khartoum can afford that.

Dr Rice have let down the Dafurian women by promissing protection to them and said she would work very hard to bring those who raped their daughters and Mums to justice.

She (Rice) also touched Dafurian elders hearts when she lied to them that she felt amongst her own people for the very first time in her life. Those words " felt amongst her own people" were well-written on front pages of the world’s leading newspapers after Ms Rice visited Darfur Camps not long ago.

Dr Rice and Mr Natsios both are very bussy now advising Mr Bush and the ICC not to take action against NIF regime while the latest is bussy killing and rapping Darfurian elderly, children, Mums and daughters.

Mr Natsios should free himself from NIF vision and free others with him.

Its time to face the challenges or keep a wide distance between yourself and those challenges. Give others time to try their best. Mr Natsios should leave ICC prosecutor to do his work without interruptions.

Former US special envoy to Sudan warns against ICC Darfur indictments 27 June 2008 15:43, by Sihs

Mr. Natsios is most competent person to provide a comprehensive view of what ever step the ICC should take ,since he is familiar with the Sudan and its government , I think what he means is serious , instead of going after officials which I think is justified ,we should look at the main problem , and by all means ,if there is a chance that this indictment would complicate peace process ,then why not hold it , the NCP , most likely will not surrender its officials ,,and with the late JEM attack on Khartoum ,people have the feeling of immanent threat to their security which make them support the GoS , to insist of bringing these people to justice can be part of peace process , for MR Ocampo ,it is just a matter of personal success , he obviously does not care if people of Darfur and Sudan would suffer more about the re-percussions of those indictment ,including civil resistance and disintegration of the whole country because of sanctions and delaying of peace process.

Former US special envoy to Sudan warns against ICC Darfur indictments 29 June 2008 18:51, by ahmed elzobier

Zbigniew Brzezinski in his book "Second Chance" remarks that it is now cheaper to kill a million people than govern them. I am not exaggerating may be Brzezinski is describing the current situation in Sudan.

Andrew Natsios’s position badly reflects how some western diplomats view the suffering of “other” people. May be for him "these people" should forget about justice. Their tormentors needed protection because of “the stability of Sudan”. Well, Sudan is not stable now, and indeed will not be stable in the future if the current rulers get away with murder.

Yesterday NCP’s rags in Khartoum celebrated Natsios’s remarks. It is wise to advice Andrew, when NCP’s creeps say they love this “person” it’s the equivalent of the Maffia kiss of death. May be in this context it will be the death of his integrity and reputation as a diplomat.

The school of “quiet diplomacy" initiated by Alan Goulty a former British ambassador to Sudan from 1995 to 1999, who replaced Peter Streams back in 1995 who was expelled by Sudan government following a row over a visit to rebel-held southern Sudan by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Of course the affable, Alan Goulty, the new British ambassador to Sudan, issued a press release on 3 May 1995 “expressing the hope of improved understanding”. Since then he became very GOOD FRIEND of the NCP.

However, Alan has been nick named by Darfur’s activist (Alan Guilty), who advised the British and US government, back in 2003/2004, to leave Darfur out of the equation during the CPA negotiation. Peter Verney in 2004 observed, “To clinch that deal, hundreds of thousands of people in Darfur will be sacrificed. Are they not the casualties of quiet diplomacy?”.

Back in 2003, the NDA (Sudanese opposition group) said to Alan Goulty; “if the international community was keen that the current war in Sudan is to stop, this would not be achieved without full participation of those carrying arms in all the frontlines and other areas of armed conflicts all over Sudan”. The quite diplomat welcomed what the NDA expressed and promised to convey the message. Well the rest is history no message was convoyed and eventually the NDA and Darfur were excluded from the CPA.

Excluding few Sudan’s western experts. Most of these experts harbor disturbing write wing views. Ranging from the infamous David Hoile (who used to advocate hanging Nelson Mandela). And of course, Alan Goulty who reported by AFRICA CONFIDENTIAL in 27 June 2003, to have said when asked about democracy in Sudan: “You have to make sacrifices to get peace”.

A creeping reminder of the oily British diplomat remark, in the film “The last King of Scotland” depicting the brutal dictator Idi Amin, when he said: “He’s got a firm hand — the only thing the African really understands." could be after all a real feeling and not just a fictional display.