Briefly

SUDAN

Genocide charges sought for Bashir

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia | International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Tuesday that he had lodged an appeal to have Sudanese President Omar Bashir charged with genocide in the Darfur conflict.

The ICC has indicted Lt. Gen. Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity - including murder, rape and torture - but ruled it had insufficient grounds for a charge of genocide.

“Today, President Bashir has to be arrested for five counts. … If we win this appeal in some months, President Bashir will also have to answer the charges of genocide,” Mr. Moreno-Ocampo said in Ethiopia.

Gen. Bashir has dismissed the allegations made by the ICC, the world’s first permanent court for prosecuting war crimes, as part of a Western conspiracy.

The ICC warrant was the first issued against a sitting head of state by The Hague-based court. United Nations’ officials say the Darfur conflict has killed as many as 300,000 people since 2003.

SUDAN

Captured workers in ‘good health’

KHARTOUM | Two aid workers kidnapped in Darfur last week have been located and are in good health, Sudanese officials told Agence France-Presse on Wednesday.

“They are in good health; they are safe,” a senior official said on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Gunmen kidnapped Irish national Sharon Commins and Ugandan Hilda Kawuki from the office of the Irish aid group Goal in the North Darfur city of Kutum on Friday night.

A Sudanese guard was also seized but later released.

The location of the two women is now known, Abdel Baqi Gilani, state minister for humanitarian affairs told Agence France-Presse without providing further details.

MALI

Story Continues →