AU requests ICC to delay case against Al-Bashir
By Simegnish Yekoye
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - The Peace and Security Council of African Union (AU) on Monday requested the United Nations Security Council, to defer the process initiated by the International Criminal Court (ICC), in relation to the application made by the ICC prosecutor who has last week issued an arrest warrant for Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, President of Sudan.
ICC on July 14, 2008 had come up with a warrant against President Al-Bashir, accusing him and other top Sudanese officials for Human Rights violations in the Darfur region.
The AU requested the UN to take into account the need to ensure that the ongoing peace efforts are not jeopardized, as well as the fact that, in the current circumstances, a prosecution may not be in the interest of the victims and justice.
In the meantime, it also urged the government of Sudan to take immediate concrete steps to investigate human rights violations in Darfur and bring to justice perpetrators, and to keep the AU fully and continuously informed of the progress being made in this respect.
AU’s Peace and Security Council also asked for the United Nations Security Council to extend for a further period of 12 months, the mandate of UNAMID and stressed the need for UNAMID operations to be conducted in a manner fully consistent with the hybrid nature of the peacekeeping mission in Darfur.
 The council urges the government of the Sudan as well to extend unreserved cooperation to the mission and take all required steps to guarantee the security and safety of its personnel, in order to facilitate the early completion of its deployment.
It also urges all Sudanese parties to fully cooperate with the joint AU/UN joint chief mediator in order to facilitate the early resumption of the political dialogue and the conclusion of a comprehensive peace agreement that builds on the Darfur Peace agreement.
Meanwhile, Eritrea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement issued this week called the ICC’s decision a ‘drama’ and said it can only be interpreted as an ‘insult’.
“It is a manifestation of the harassment that has been accumulating,” the statement reads.
The statement also said that the people and political forces of the Sudan should go beyond this to prevent interference in and “internationalization” of their domestic affairs.