Region | Sudan
AU asks UN to delay possible charges against Sudan's president
The African Union on Monday asked th UN Security Council to delay a decision by the International Criminal Court on whether to indict Sudanese President Omar Al Beshir on war crimes charges.
- Agencies
- Published: 20:31 July 21, 2008
Addis Ababa: The African Union on Monday asked th UN Security Council to delay a decision by the International Criminal Court on whether to indict Sudanese President
Omar Al Bashir on war crimes charges.
"The African Union requests the UN Security Council to defer the process initiated by the ICC, taking into account the need to ensure that the ongoing peace process is not jeopardised," Nigerian Foreign Minister Ojo Maduekwe told reporters.
"We are asking for a delay within the rules of the Rome
Statute," he said at the end of AU's Peace and Security Council meeting in Addis Ababa.
The UN Security Council can pass a resolution to defer for a
period of 12 months any investigation or prosecution by the ICC and the delay may be renewed by the council under the same conditions.
"The AU invites the (AU) commission to take all necessary steps for the establishment, within the period of 30 days of this meeting, for a high-level panel made up of distinguished Africans to examine the situation," Maduekwe added.
"We urge the Sudanese government to take immediate steps in investigating human rights violations in Darfur," he said.
ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo accused Al Bashir or masterminding a genocide campaign that killed thousands of people in Darfur.
Last week, Moreno-Ocampo asked ICC judges to issue a warrant for Al Bashir's arrest.
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