Implications for Darfur

The ICC’s indictment of leading figures within the Sudanese regime was the first sign ofmeaningful international action against Khartoum;  UN Security Council resolutions  remain mostly unenforced, and the joint UN-African Union monitoring force, UNAMID, is limited by  a shortage of funding, resources and troops. According to the ICC prosecutor, Luis Ocampo, "The international community failed in the past, failed to stop Rwanda genocide, failed to stop Balkans crimes. So this time the new thing is, there is a court, an independent court ... who is saying, "This is a genocide”."

Most human rights groups welcomed the initiative to bring Al-Bashir to justice, ending decades of impunity. However, some feared the negative effects this announcement could have on peace negotiations. For instance, the US and the African Union were worried the indictment could further harden Khartoum’s intransigence, despite its track record of breaking its commitments to previous peace deals. It was hoped that concerted support for the ICC would send a strong signal that genocide will not be tolerated and that war criminals will be punished regardless of their rank.

The Sudanese Government has ignored ICC demands, and is unlikely to change its policy unless concerted international pressure is brought to bear.  However, the indictment has been an important step in openly condemning the atrocities being waged by the Sudanese Government and their allied Janjaweed militias in Darfur.

In 2010 the ICC added another charge to its outstanding arrest warrant for President Al Bashir:  genocide.  "There are reasonable grounds to believe him responsible for three counts of genocide committed against the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups, that include: genocide by killing, genocide by causing serious bodily or mental harm and genocide by deliberately inflicting on each target group conditions of life calculated to bring about the group's physical destruction," ICC appeals judges said in a statement.  Bashir dismisses the allegations as part of a Western conspiracy.

To this day, Bashir continues to avoid arrest despite travelling widely, including to China in 2011.  However, it is believed that the indictment provides a point of leverage over the ruling National Congress Party of Sudan, which resents the damage to its reputation