SUNA- Vice - President of the Republic, Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, has refuted the claims of the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno-Ocampo, through which he issued a memo against the President of the Republic, Field Marshal Omer Al-Bashir. At a press conference he held Monday evening at the premises of the Council of Ministers, Taha said that the International Criminal Court (ICC) is a voluntary organization, but not one of the United Nations organizations.
He said that Sudan did not sign the agreement of the ICC and not join its membership, therefore Sudan is not under the mandate of this court, adding that the ICC Prosecutor General have no right to impose his court's jurisdiction on any Sudanese national. Taha described the ICC Prosecutor's move as not professional and illegal in a political issue, which is Darfur issue, stressing that the government has declared its clear stance on Darfur issue and regarded it as outcome of a tribal dispute between different population groups over natural resources.
He stressed that Darfur issue was not the creation of the government which is led by President Omer Al-Bashir, adding that Darfur issue was aggravated by the drought and desertification which led to displacement of several population groups in search of food. He said that Ocampo intentionally neglected the fact that Darfur region has witnessed increase of arms before arrival of President Omer Al-Bashir as an impact of the former Chadian - Chadian and the Chadian - Libyan conflicts. Taha inquired about the personal benefit that President Omer Al-Bashir could achieve from any ethnic genocide, as Ocampo has claimed in his report.
He said that various national and international reports and documents prove that disputes in Darfur are continuous, but not necessarily between groups of Arab and Negro origins. The Vice - President pointed out that Ocampo tended to instigate sedition by his reference to a so-called Arab - African conflict in Darfur, adding that there are groups in Darfur known for their hostility to the government, such as the Justice and Equality Movement that attacked Khartoum on May 10, are composed of a number of ethic groups that clans of them are allied to the government. H
e also said that big numbers of the Armed Forces troops who Ocampo accused of committing to the so-called genocide against the said tribes were belonging to these tribes themselves. He indicated that occurrence of death and destruction was a normal outcome of the government confrontation to a local rebellion, but no genocide has happened in Darfur according to the reports of the international committee which has visited Darfur region, and also the report of the national committee for investigation in such claims that was headed by Judge Dafalala Al-Haj Yousif. Taha stressed that the allegations made by Ocampo were lacking legal basis and not coping with the requirement of the international law.
