China wary of ICC genocide ruling against Sudan president

KHARTOUM – The Chinese government today expressed concern over the possible impact of the International Criminal Court (ICC) ruling made this week that paves the way for adding the charges of genocide to the arrest warrant issued against Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir. “We do not want such a move to further complicate the settlement of the Darfur issue and the peace between the North and South (of Sudan),” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement carried by Agence France Presse (AFP).



"Such a move might disturb or even damage the cooperative atmosphere between concerned sides," he said.

On Wednesday the ICC judges ruled in a favor of the appeal made by prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo in which he challenged the pre-trial chamber decision to throw out the genocide counts from Bashir’s warrant.

The warrant when issued almost a year ago drew condemnation from Sudan’s allies in the Arab and African world as well as China, all of which called on the UN Security Council (UNSC) to defer it under Article 16 of the Rome Statute.

However, China has lately become less vocal on the matter despite being a UNSC permanent member. Chinese officials have said they do not intend to table a resolution imposing a freeze on the indictment.

Currently, the situation in Sudan is at a “complex, sensitive and critical” stage as the largest African country is to hold general elections in April and a referendum on self-determination for south Sudan is slated for January 2011, Ma said.

"Concerned sides are also trying to pushing forward the Doha peace talks," Ma said.

Beijing abstained from voting on the UNSC resolution in 2005 referring the Darfur case to the ICC much to the dismay of Khartoum.

Sudan does not recognize the ICC calling it a tool of “western neo-colonialism”.

(ST)