EU to urge Sudan to meet Bashir arrest obligation
(BRUSSELS) - The European Union will urge Sudan on Monday to cooperate with the International Criminal Court which has warrants out for the arrest of President Omar al-Bashir, according to a draft text.
The draft, obtained by AFP and expected to be approved by EU foreign ministers Monday, comes after Bashir travelled to Chad this week in defiance of warrants for his arrest on charges of genocide and war crimes in Darfur.
The document "recalls that war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of genocide are the most serious crimes of concern to the international community and that impunity for these crimes can never be accepted."
"The council (of foreign ministers) reiterates its support for the International Criminal Court (ICC) and calls upon the government of Sudan to cooperate fully with the ICC in accordance with its obligations under international law," it says.
EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton also urged Chad on Thursday to fulfill its international obligations and arrest Bashir.
Ashton reminded Chad that it was a signatory of the Rome Statute, the founding document of the ICC, obliging it to arrest any person on its territory wanted by the court.
The seven-year Darfur conflict in western Sudan, on the border with Chad, has claimed 300,000 lives according to the United Nations, but the Khartoum government puts the toll at 10,000.
The EU will also urge all parties to speed up preparations, including voter registration, for a referendum on the independence of south Sudan in January 2011.
The ministers want to send an EU election observer mission and will voice "concern about a pattern of increasing political repression and the deteriorating environment for civil and political rights in all areas of Sudan."
"It is, in this respect, deeply concerned about the recent closure of newspapers and the arrests of a number of journalists," according to the document.
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