The Washington Post reports that ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo will charge the president of Sudan, Colonel Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, with genocide and crimes against humanity. Appropriately, the announcement comes on the anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, which gave rise to an exceedingly rare holding that genocide had actually been committed.
A conviction on genocide charges may be challenging, as the Cassesse Commission report concluded years ago that crimes against humanity were taking place in Darfur, but genocide was not since the evidence did not – in the Commission's view – show an attempt to destroy the entire Darfuri population in whole or in substantial part, as required by the Genocide Convention. Moreover, several UN officials quoted in the article express concern that the indictment will cause Al-Bashir to dig in his heels and resist pressures to give up power.
Nonetheless, Sudan's reluctance to cooperate with international investigations is well-recorded, and any additional amount of pressure which could be placed on the Sudanese government will doubtless be welcomed by the Darfuris and the human rights community.
