Social Science Research Council

To date, the application by Moreno Ocampo for an arrest warrant for President Omar al Bashir has not led to disaster in Sudan. The CPA is intact, the UN operations are continuing, there have been no clashes between government supporters and enemies. In fact, the country appears calmer than last week. What is going on?
Most [...]

Memorandum to EU Ambassadors On the ICC and Sudan
From: Al Sadig Al Mahdi
President of Umma National Party
17th July 2008
Excellencies,
I have requested this meeting, which you have kindly arranged to update you on events in the Sudan from Umma National Party (UNP) point of view and to compare notes with you.
Sudan is now at an important [...]

Attempting to make a snap judgment on the outcome of the ICC’s intervention is perhaps a mistake. Commentators on both sides of the argument have skilfully demonstrated the complexities and possible consequences involved. While not wishing to add to the list of possible scenarios, I would like to query some of the arguments [...]

Something is definitely happening - and there may even be reasons to be faintly optimistic about it. Having presented a ‘worst case scenario’ earlier in this discussion, perhaps it is worth setting out a ‘best case scenario’, looking at the situation from this point on.
First, I do believe the worst case remains a serious possibility. [...]

The decision of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, to file genocide charges against President Bashir has generated the familiar wave of alarmist commentary in the op-ed pages of newspapers and blogs such as this one. The Associated Press called is “a high-risk strategy that could backfire against the people in [...]

The definitive indications are that President Bashir and the National Congress have, indeed, chosen the mature response to the ICC indictment; pushing ahead with the CPA and trying to secure a comprehensive political settlement to Darfur. They have realised that a country that is moving head forth towards comprehensive political, economic and social transformation hardly [...]

Regarding the ICC’s likely indictment of Sudanese President Omar al Bashir, one of the main concerns expressed in this forum is that it would cause Khartoum to lash out and inflict further atrocities on civilians, worsening the security and humanitarian situations in Darfur. While echoing Chad Hazlett’s claim that it is near-impossible to predict [...]

While advocates and human rights groups focused on Darfur may applaud reports of Sudan’s President, Omar Bashir, being indicted by the International Criminal Court, they should think again about their enthusiasm. The question all of us must ask who care about what happens to the long suffering Sudanese people is this: what are [...]

On Monday 14 July, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, will ask the Court to indict a very senior official of the Sudan Government—most probably President Omar al Bashir himself.
Moreno Ocampo is taking a bold and momentous step for global human rights and for Sudan. It is also controversial and [...]

Indicting Bashir would be a risky move to be sure. One gamble, well articulated in this forum, is that it will have negative consequences for peacemaking and for Sudan’s politics. According to this prediction, we must regrettably put off concerns over achieving justice for now – or at least find less radical means of obtaining [...]