China Says ICC Move Could Hit Sudan Peace Process
Al-Manar 06/02/2010 China has expressed concern over a move by a war crimes court to reconsider adding genocide charges to an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar el-Beshir, saying it could hurt the peace process.
Foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said the situation in Sudan was at a “complex, sensitive and critical” stage and such a move by the International Criminal Court (ICC) could “disturb or even damage the cooperative atmosphere.”
“Concerned sides” are trying to push forward the Doha peace talks between the Sudanese government and Darfur rebel groups, he said in a statement released Friday, according to Xinhua news agency.
Ma stressed that China had expressed “deep concern” since the start of proceedings against Beshir in 2008, together with “some African and Arabic developing countries, as well as regional organizations such as the African Union and the League of Arab States,” Xinhua reported.
The African Union said Friday the ICC’s move harmed the peace process in Sudan.
An ICC appeals chamber on Wednesday ordered a review of Beshir’s arrest warrant for alleged atrocities in the war-torn western Sudanese province of Darfur. It directed judges to reconsider their decision to omit genocide from the warrant issued in March last year, saying they had made “an error in law.”
The ICC issued the arrest warrant for Beshir on five counts of crimes against humanity and two of war crimes committed in Darfur.
Chief ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo first called for an arrest warrant to be issued against Beshir in July 2008.
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