The International Criminal Court (ICC) President Sang-Hyun Song has called on the UN Security Council to support its efforts to deal with war crimes cases in Libya and Sudan’s Darfur.
Addressing the Security Council for the first time ever on Wednesday on the subject of cooperation, the ICC President said although the Court and the Council were different entities, their role to ensure non-violence was complementary.
“For the ICC to effectively deal with situations referred to by the council under Chapter VII, it needs to be able to count on the full and continuing cooperation of all UN members, whether they are parties to the Rome Statute or not,’’ Sang-Hyun said, according to a statement received by PANA in Nairobi on Thursday.
The ICC’s efforts to have Sudanese President Omar El Bashir arrested on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide have failed due to the AU’s decision not to cooperate with the court in his arrest.
President Bashir and senior members of his government are wanted over the nine-year war in Sudan’s western region of Darfur, where his government is accused of deploying a policy of extermination of the local tribes.
President Bashir’s government is accused of financing the creation of the the Arab militia on horse back, known mostly as the Janjaweed.