FortySouth

The United Nations Security Council on Friday deadlocked on what action to take following the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) indictment of President Omar al-Bashir:

Mr. Bashir’s supporters, led by Libya and China, insisted that any official statement issued by the Council simultaneously address the potential humanitarian crisis and a possible deferral of the charges, while Western nations blasted the idea of linking the two issues and warned of a potential humanitarian catastrophe that could affect millions.

In the meantime, aid agencies have been expelled from the region leaving hundreds of thousands without medical assistance and food. The ICC has no enforcement arm of its own, it relies on signatories of the Rome Treaty to help with apprehending criminals. The African Union has called for the rescinding of this decision, it threatens their sovereignty, “who could be next?”

China, Libya, Vietnam and Uganda (members of the UN Security Council) contend that the decision to indict al-Bashir should be deferred “as soon as possible in order to calm the situation.”

I think the first priority should be ensuring that people in Darfur should have access to aid to prevent a deepening of the humanitarian crisis, and at the same time a more elaborate and logical way should be sought to apprehend al-Bashir to face the criminal charges. But the way the issue has been handled so far causing an increase in undue suffering on the Sudanese people, especially of the Darfur region.

Something’s got to give.

[Inset: by Bruno Morandi]

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See Also:

• Sudan: Aid Agencies Expelled from Darfur
• Sudan: Arrest the President?
• Dambisa Moyo: Halt Developmental Aid to Africa