International Criminal Court (ICC) Timeline

May – August 2010: Over the summer of 2010, President Omar Al-Bashir visited Djibouti, China, Chad, Kenya and Malawi all of which recognise the ICC.  The ICC arrest warrant for President Bashir obliges all states which have signed the Rome Statute to arrest individuals wanted by the court if they are present in their country.  The lack of responsibility shown by these countries has allowed President Bashir to flout the arrest warrant of the ICC.

12 July 2010: The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir for genocide committed in Darfur to stand alongside the earlier ICC arrest warrant in March 2009 for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

This is the first time the ICC has issued an arrest warrant for the crime of genocide. The warrant is for al-Bashir's alleged role as an indirect perpetrator or indirect co-perpetrator of genocide in Darfur through killing, causing bodily or mental harm, and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring physical destruction.

3 February 2010: The ICC's appeals chamber ordered the court to reconsider its decision to omit genocide from al-Bashir's list of charges, saying the initial ruling had been affected by "an error of law" for setting the threshold of evidence too high.

6 July 2009: Moreno-Ocampo appealed the court's ruling not to prosecute al-Bashir on charges of genocide. He argued that the decision to prosecute al-Bashir for genocide does not depend exclusively on whether it can be proved that the Sudanese head of state had genocidal intentions.

3 July 2009: Leaders of the African Union say they will no longer co-operate with the ICC and will not arrest and extradite the Sudanese president.

4 March 2009: The ICC issued an arrest warrant for al-Bashir on seven charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, making the Sudanese president the first acting head of state to be indicted. He is also the most senior figure pursued by the court in The Hague since its inception in 2002.  However, the court ruled that al-Bashir cannot be prosecuted for genocide, saying the chief prosecutor, Moreno-Ocampo failed to reasonably prove the Sudanese president had genocidal intent.

20 November 2008: The ICC chief prosecutor requested arrest warrants for Darfur rebels for the first time, accusing them of storming an African Union camp and killing 12 peacekeepers.

16 July 2008: The Arab League said it is concerned at moves to indict al-Bashir. The African Union later urged the UN Security Council to suspend any indictment.

14 July 2008: The chief prosecutor of the ICC, Moreno-Ocampo, asked judges for an arrest warrant for Omar al-Bashir, on crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against the non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur.

December 2007: The ICC Prosecutor announced two new investigations into 1) individuals bearing the greatest responsibilities for the current crimes against humanity, and those assisting Harun, and 2) those responsible for attacks on AU and UN peacekeepers (including rebel factions).

September 2007: The Sudanese Government appointed Ahmad Harun as co-chair on the committee appointed to hear victims’ cases of human rights abuses in Darfur.

3 May 2007: The Sudanese Government defied the ICC warrants as it repeatedly and publicly refusesdto extradite Harun and Kushyb.

2 May 2007: The ICC issued warranted arrests for Ahmad Harun and Ali Kushyb

February 2007: The International Criminal Court (ICC) completed its first case on Darfur as it appealed to the Pre-Trial Chamber to issue summonses (not mandated warrants) for two Sudanese individuals wanted for war crimes. Ahmad Haroun - a Sudanese Government Minister involved in the Government of Sudan’s (GoS) initial Darfur policy in 2003 where the Janjaweed militias began attacking Darfuri civilians, and Ali Kushyb - a prominent leader of the Janjaweed.