ICC raps Sudan for non-cooperation over rebel leader
The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) has accused Sudan of non-cooperation in relation to surrendering a rebel leader wanted by the tribunal.
"By disregarding the requests to arrest and surrender Mr. [Abdallah] Banda...Sudan failed to comply with requests to cooperate with the court," the ICC said on Thursday.
Banda, along with fellow rebel leader, Saleh Jerbo, who was killed in Sudan during an attack by forces of the Sudanese Justice and Equality Movement in 2013, faces three war crimes charges for allegedly leading an attack on African Union peacekeepers in North Darfur in September 2007, killing 12 of them.
The two appeared voluntarily before the court in June 2010 and urged other war crimes suspects to surrender to justice.
The court said in 2013 that Jerbo had been killed in Sudan during an attack by forces of the Sudanese Justice and Equality Movement.
The two had been due to go on trial at the ICC in May 2014.
In September 2014, the tribunal issued an arrest warrant against Banda, saying it was "unlikely" he would voluntarily attend his war crimes trial, which has been postponed indefinitely.
The court has now ordered the case to be referred to the United Nations Security Council for further action. Khartoum is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, under which the ICC was founded, but is a UN member.
The ICC has also called for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur, a region in western Sudan. The Sudanese president denies the allegations against him.
The head of state traveled to South Africa back in June. Heeding the ICC call, the Pretoria High Court ruled that the 71-year-old be barred from leaving, but his presidential jet flew out of the country a day after the ruling was issued.
The UN says the armed conflict in the Darfur region has killed as many as 300,000 people and displaced some two million.
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