Sudan: National Umma Party calls for ratification of ICC’s Rome Statute 

The Sudanese National Umma Party called, on Thursday, for the ratification of the ICC’s Rome Statute, so that Sudan becomes a state member, stressing that this step “is consistent with the principles of the right to protect the world’s populations.”

Sadiq Al-Mahdi

This came in a statement issued by the party, led by Sadiq Al-Mahdi, reported Anadolu.

The statement said: “The party calls for the ratification of the ICC’s Rome Statute, in line with the principle of the right to protect the world’s populations, and to achieve many national gains.”

Sudan is not a member state in the International Criminal Court (ICC), and is not a signatory to the Rome Statute; i.e. the fundamental treaty according to which the ICC was founded.

Read: Sudan to continue to subsidise bread but with ‘justice’

This ICC was established on 1 July 2002, in The Hague, to be the first permanent court charged with prosecuting those accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The statement added: “We believe that the decision to extradite the wanted persons to the International Criminal Court is the right step to achieve justice to the victims, and to fight impunity.”

The statement pointed to the need to protect the Sudanese revolution and face the challenges with a unified front.

The ICC issued two arrest warrants against Al-Bashir, in 2009 and 2010, on charges related to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur, while the latter denied the charges and accused the court of being “politicised.”

The ICC also accuses former Sudanese Minister of Defence, Abdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein, and former governor of Southern Kordofan Ahmed Haroun, in addition to a tribal leader and militia commander in Darfur, Ali Kushayb, of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.