THE HAGUE, July 14: The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) prosecutor charged Sudan’s president on Monday with masterminding a campaign of genocide in Darfur, killing 35,000 people and persecuting 2.5 million refugees.

ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo asked the court for an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan Al Bashir.

The prosecutor said Sudan’s armed forces and the militia they support killed up to 35,000 people while 2.5 million others were subjected to a campaign of “rape, hunger and fear” in refugee camps, where he said genocide continued “under our eyes”.

“The decision to start the genocide was taken by Bashir personally,” he told a news conference. “Bashir is executing this genocide without gas chambers, without bullets, without machetes. It is genocide by attrition.”

A few dozen people protested outside the British embassy and the UN headquarters in Khartoum.

Arab foreign ministers said they would hold an emergency meeting on Saturday to discuss the case.

Mr Moreno-Ocampo said it usually took two to three months for ICC judges to rule on an application for an arrest warrant, but it could take longer in this case.

He said he would also ask the court to freeze Mr Bashir’s assets.

“The coming stage will witness a diplomatic battle with the stage in the UN headquarters in New York,” Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali Al Sadig told reporters. “Friends like China, Russia, South Africa and Indonesia and regional groups, the Arabs and the Africans... will support Sudan’s position.”

The prosecutor said Mr Bashir masterminded a plan to destroy the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups in Darfur who launched a rebellion in 2003.--Reuters

Masood Haider adds from United Nations: Sudan blasted the ICC chief prosecutor for seeking the indictment, calling it a very “irresponsible act” and asserting that Mr Moreno-Ocampo wanted to settle his own “political agenda”.

Addressing a press conference, Sudan’s Ambassador to the UN Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad declared his country would not cooperate with the ICC since “we are not a signatory to the Rome Statute”, no matter who is named a suspect.

“For us,” he said, “It does not exist. We are not part of it; we are not party to the Rome Statute. So like the US, which is not a member, we are not a member.”

He also warned that the ICC’s actions could undermine the peace process in Darfur. He said the move could bring about serious repercussions: “All options are open for our reaction and indeed (ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo) is playing with fire. The UN has a very constructive engagement with Sudan; they are dealing on various tracks (with regard to) the peace process and humanitarian.... The ICC is going to spoil all these things and bring us back to square one and put the security of the entire population in jeopardy. He is opening the gates of fire for the whole country and this should be stopped without any delay.”

On a phone call made by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to President Bashir on Sunday from Paris, Ambassador Abdulhaleem said he assured Ban that his priority was to end bloodshed and the Sudanese government would ensure safety and security of UN peacekeepers.

When asked if the move would endanger UN peacekeepers, the ambassador said: “The Sudan government is careful to its commitment. The UN also promised to guard against any threat to this commitment. The UN should also play a role in safeguarding this cooperation and partnership. The Sudanese government is not at all hostile to the United Nations. (The UN staff and peacekeepers) are the guests of the entire country but if there are any threats to security and stability of the country we are all in one boat. The entire country would suffer, not just one group here and there.”