ICC prosecutor warns UN against Sudan coverup

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court prosecutor told the United Nations Wednesday to prepare to arrest Sudan's president if he is indicted on genocide charges, and not to protect him in a "coverup".

ICC judges in the The Hague are considering a request by the prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Campo, for a warrant to arrest President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for crimes in the war-torn Darfur region. A decision is expected next month.

Moreno-Ocampo told the 15-nation U.N. Security Council it "must be prepared. If the judges decide to issue an arrest warrant against President al-Bashir, there will be a need for united and consistent action to ensure its execution."

Moreno-Ocampo said Bashir had ignored U.N. calls to halt the violence in Darfur. He accused him of promising ceasefires then ordering bombing raids, denying that mass rape was taking place and promising justice while torturing witnesses.

"Genocide continues. Rapes in and around the (refugee) camps continue. Humanitarian assistance is still hindered. More than 5,000 displaced persons die each month," he said. Sudan's U.N. envoy dismissed the allegations as "blackmail".

Bashir would try to win Security Council protection but his "criminal actions should not be ignored," the prosecutor said. "The international community cannot be part of any coverup of genocide or crimes against humanity."

Moreno-Ocampo was apparently taking aim at Article 16 of the ICC statute whereby the Security Council can delay investigations for a year or more.

African and Arab states have proposed invoking the article, saying Moreno-Ocampo's attempt to bring Bashir before the ICC is likely to damage attempts to halt the five-year-old conflict in Darfur, western Sudan.

COUNCIL DIVIDED

The council is divided. "Article 16 ... was contemplated for precisely the kind of situation we face," South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo said. China and Russia also voiced misgivings about the indictment, but British envoy Karen Pierce said there was "no justification at present" for Article 16.

In a separate, written report to the council, Moreno-Ocampo called on U.N. member states to back up any arrest warrants by cutting nonessential contact with indictees and imposing travel bans and asset freezes on them.

The prosecutor has also requested warrants against three Darfur rebel commanders whose names have not been made public. ICC judges also issued arrest warrants last year for two Sudanese officials, neither of whom has been handed over.

Moreno-Ocampo's office in The Hague quoted him as saying U.N.-African Union peacekeepers in Darfur could not stop the violence and asking, "How long are we going to just tally the casualties, the displacements and the rapes?"

"If Security Council members can act together, the crimes will stop and millions of lives will be saved. If different interests prevent a strong and consistent position in support of the Court's decisions, if they give room to false promises, rapes will continue, destruction will continue."

Moreno-Ocampo told the Security Council that three unidentified human rights activists in Sudan had been arrested last week and tortured for giving information to the ICC.

Sudan's U.N. ambassador, Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem, accused Moreno-Ocampo of "political blackmail."

"He's increasingly transforming the ICC into a tool that has nothing to do with justice," Abdalhaleem told Reuters, adding that most countries in the world want the Security Council to suspend the investigation against Bashir.

U.N. officials say up to 300,000 people have been killed in the Darfur conflict and that 2.7 million have been driven from their homes. Khartoum says 10,000 people have died.