UN peacekeepers prepare for Sudan ruling

March 03, 2009|Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS - UN peacekeepers in Sudan are ready for any violence if an international war crimes court issues an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir over the Darfur conflict, the United Nations peacekeeping chief said yesterday.

Alain Le Roy welcomed assurances from the Sudan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday that the government would protect the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Sudan and the joint UN-African Union mission in Darfur against "any negative impact" from any court decision.

The International Criminal Court in the Netherlands said last week that it would rule tomorrow on the chief prosecutor's request for an arrest warrant for Bashir for atrocities committed in Darfur's six-year war.

Prosecutors at the court - the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal - alleged in July that the Sudanese leader was guilty of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for masterminding a campaign of murder, torture and rape by government troops and Arab militias.

Sudanese ministers have said they will ignore any warrant, and Le Roy said UN peacekeepers have no mandate to arrest Bashir "so we will not take that kind of action."

There are 13,000 UN and African Union peacekeepers in Darfur and a 13,000-strong UN mission in semiautonomous southern Sudan enforcing a 2005 agreement that ended decades of fighting in that region.

"We don't fear that the UN mission will be specifically targeted by any group," Le Roy said.

"I'm sure there will be some crowd movements. There will be some violence here and there. What we don't know is the level of violence, and we hope the government of Sudan will act responsibly to make sure that all beginning of violence will be stopped in due time."

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