Ethiopian Review

PARIS (Sudan Tribune) — The French government said today that Sudan must cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in executing all arrest warrants issued against individuals in connection with war crimes committed in Darfur.

The deputy spokesperson of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs Frederic Desagneaux told reporters today that Sudan must “fulfills its obligations towards the ICC and the Security Council”.

“The applications of the ICC must be satisfied. Three arrest warrants have been issued by the Court, they must be implemented and we urge the full and unambiguous cooperation of Sudan with the ICC” Desagneaux said.

The French official’s remarks come on the eve of a visit by a high level Sudanese delegation to discuss a number of issues including the ICC arrest warrant against president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir.

Khartoum has long sought to convince Paris to support a deferral of Bashir’s indictment through a UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution. So far these efforts have yielded little success.

The delegation will consist of presidential assistant Nafi Nafi, presidential adviser Mustafa Ismail and Abdel-Baset Sanoosi chief of bilateral relations at the Sudanese foreign ministry.

Sudan’s intelligence chief Salah Gosh is not part of the delegation as reported earlier.

Desagneaux said that the delegation will hold talks with French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner and Mark Malloch-Brown, British Foreign Office Minister for Africa.

“This meeting is trilateral because we have a very close dialogue with the United Kingdom on this issue” he said.

The French spokesperson said that the delegation is present in Paris at its own request. He said the issued that is likely to be discussed will include the ICC, humanitarian situation in Darfur, recent of expulsion of aid agencies by Khartoum, Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between North and South Sudan as well as Qatar peace talks between Khartoum and Darfur Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).

He said that France “sees no reason” to invoke a UNSC suspension of Bashir’s warrant but noted that his government “is mindful” of the views of Arab and African countries which backs a deferral.

Asked about whether French troops in Africa could be used to apprehend the Sudanese president upon request from the ICC, Desagneaux said that this is a “hypothetical situation”.

“You know that we are a party to the Rome Statute, we apply and we of course fully respect our obligations to this title. We cooperate with the International Criminal Court whenever we requested. We are therefore in this logic of cooperation. There is an obligation for States Parties to the Rome Statute to cooperate with the Court” he said.

Last month Sudan summoned the French ambassador over statements attributed to Eric Chevalier, spokesman of the French foreign ministry in which he suggested that his government will support any operation aimed at arresting the Sudanese president through intercepting the plane.

The French government said Chevalier’s was misquoted by the London based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper which interviewed him.

Bashir has travelled to a dozen countries in the region without any attempts to arrest him. The ICC does not have a police force of its own and relies on States to execute the arrest warrants.