Arrest Warrant Issued for al-Bashir (first posted March 4, 2009)
The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Sudan President Omar al-Bashir on five counts of acts against humanity and 2 counts of war crimes. Visit this link to read the ICC press release information from the ICC website: http://www.icc-cpi.int/menus/icc/press%20and%20media/press%20releases/icc%20issues%20a%20warrant%20of%20arrest%20for%20omar%20al%20bashir_%20president%20of%20sudan.
This comes as great news, but at the same time this also means that they are going to be an uprising of problems in Sudan. Al-Bashir is going to go out with a fight and that is clear already today in an article I found on STANDNow.org:
Following its issuance of the arrest warrant for al-Bashir this morning, international aid agency Oxfam GB confirmed that the Sudanese government revoked its license to operate in northern Sudan. Also revoked were licenses for Mercy Corps, Save the Children, IRC, CHF, MSF. Worldvision and Catholic Relief Services get to stay.
Penny Lawrence, Oxfam's International Director, said:
"If Oxfam's registration is revoked, it will affect more than 600,000 Sudanese people whom we provide with vital humanitarian and development aid, including clean water and sanitation on a daily basis. 400,000 of them are affected by the ongoing conflict in Darfur - where people continue to flee from violence and the humanitarian needs remain enormous. It will also affect another 200,000 poor people in the east of the country and Khartoum state."
Cleary, this is a serious development that we need to continue monitoring.
This is going to be a hostile time in Sudan, but let us hope that this hostility will settle and that the people of Sudan can move forward and live in peace again.