ICC to decide on arrest warrant for Sudan’s president

(The Daily Nation) – The International Criminal Court in The Hague will announce on March 4 whether it will issue an arrest warrant for Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur.

President Bashir, the most senior figure pursued by the court since it was set up in 2002, dismisses the allegations and refuses to deal with the ICC, calling it part of a Western conspiracy.

The court’s chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo requested the warrant for Bashir last July, making him the first sitting head of state to be charged by an international court since Liberia’s Charles Taylor and Yugoslavia’s Slobodan Milosevic.

The court will announce its decision “concerning the prosecution application of 14 July 2008 for the issuance of a warrant of arrest against President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan”, the ICC said in a statement.