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ICC row hindered reform plans at Sudan justice ministry: official

June 14, 2009 (KHARTOUM) — The row with the International Criminal Court (ICC) has put development plans within the justice ministry on hold, a Sudanese official said today.

Sudanese justice minister Abdel-Basit Sabdarat
Sudanese justice minister Abdel-Basit Sabdarat
“The Sudanese justice minister Abdel-Baset Sabdarat said that there were “radical reform” program waiting to be executed.

Sabdarat made these remarks during the inauguration of a new prosecutor building in the twin capital city of Omdurman, the official news agency (SUNA) reported.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir last March for seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Darfur.

Sudan does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC despite a UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution in March 2005 referring the Darfur situation to The Hague based court.

The Sudanese justice minister said that his ministry requires organization and a revamp utilizing its “qualified and trained” employees.

However, he stressed that “alot needs to be done,” adding that the budget allocated to his ministry is low.

Sabdarat did not elaborate on the link between the proposed reform plans and the ICC crisis.

The Sudanese official has toured a number of countries since the ICC prosecutor submitted his case against Bashir last year.

He visited a number of ICC member countries asking for mediation and representation in the case on its behalf as part of its strategy of dealing with the court “through a third party”.

Sudan is also believed to have supported the efforts of a UK based organization that hired a lawyer to ask the ICC judges not to issue an arrest warrant for Bashir.

The judges dismissed the motion and subsequent appeal.

Last August Sabdarat appointed a special prosecutor to look into rights abuses committed in Darfur since 2003. However little has emerged about its work since its inception.

The justice minister told the Kuwait based Al-Rayaam in an interview last April that judicial prosecutions against war crimes suspects will not be possible until security is established in Darfur.

(ST)

4 Comments

  • Michael Malual Mawien
    Michael Malual Mawien

    ICC row hindered reform plans at Sudan justice ministry: official
    Please Abdel- Basit, you are not doing your work which you were been assigned to by the world court which is ICC. If you are really after your work then why Bashir is still outside running presidential affairs you have to suck him and sent him to the court in order to go and depend himself from the crimes that were been filed against him. there is no one is above the law so bashir must to respect the rules and regulation to turn him to the ICC without failure. You are the another one who don’t want to show what is there to the public. You the left the job to the prescutor alone and you are not helping atall.

    Reply
  • Garang
    Garang

    ICC row hindered reform plans at Sudan justice ministry: official
    INFORMATION

    Dear Sudanese our problem with Arabs in the north is not a simple case and that one should not worry us at all we are powerful and we will depeat them very soon.

    look how do you expect a parasite tick on it attachment to it host to open the case againest the host animal,will that parasite not be crush by that host animal?

    sorry let forget mr.Abdel-Basit Sabdarat who is the parasite to Omer el Bashir,and claim to be justice minitrer only to pay justice to Bashir but not to all sudanese he will not do wrong for his host partner.ICC alone will do their best to arrest Bashir.

    Kerubino Garang

    Reply
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