In concluding that the International Criminal Court is mishandling its cases involving Darfur, Julie Flint and and Alex de Waal ["Justice Off Course in Darfur," op-ed, June 28] misconstrued the status of those cases at the court and inaccurately described the relevant role of the ICC’s chief prosecutor for Darfur, Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

The U.N. Security Council referred the situation in Darfur to the court to give it jurisdiction that it would otherwise not have had over the atrocities there. The Security Council is the right place for the political decisions about dealing with the government of Sudan that Mr. de Waal and Ms. Flint urged on the prosecutor.

If it wishes, the Security Council can change its mind and require the court to defer further action in the Darfur cases. Instead, after hearing the prosecutor on June 5, the Security Council issued a presidential statement praising his work on Darfur and calling on the international community to help enforce ICC arrest warrants outstanding for alleged atrocities in Darfur.

The ICC charges that the subjects of those warrants, Ahmad Muhammad Harun and Ali Kushayb, committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in 2003-04. This is precisely the time Ms. Flint and Mr. de Waal described as the “firestorm” period of maximum violence in Darfur. If the violence has died down or changed in form, that does not change the reality of the horror of those crimes nor the urgency of holding accountable those most responsible for them.

JOHN WASHBURN

Convener

American Non-Governmental Organizations

Coalition for the International Criminal Court

New York
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/30/AR2008063001963.html

Yes it seems the ICC is losing its way in Darfur. The conflict was not and is not easy to resolve it by indicting senior officials. By doing so the ICC might lose its credibility as a legal body that victims can rely on. Indicting senior figure isn’t a victory to darfurians because at the end of the day won’t solve the problem or end their suffering it may complicate situation more than now. Moreover, it is really shame for a respected legal body to enter into such kind of accusations when comparing with Nazi’s. This is really outrage and is not accepted at all. It needs to be regretted for if this body respects itself.

I guess the best way international community can do is to find a viable solution that takes into account the needs of ordinary citizen. Nonetheless, taking concerns of politicians on board needs a careful approach as they have their own ways of exposing theirs which may be subjective sometines.

Mohammed