ICC Charges Sudanese President Bashir with Genocide

The International Criminal Court at the Hague yesterday formally charged Sudanese President Omar al Bashir with three counts of genocide by killing, causing psychological and physical harm, and "by deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction." The genocidal aggression was directed against three different tribal groups in the Darfur region of the country. These charges are added to those of war crimes and crimes against humanity issued by the court in March of 2009. At that time the ICC declined to include genocide in the indictments against Bashir, citing lack of sufficient evidence. That decision was overturned Monday as a result of a successful appeal and newly filed motions by ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo. Yesterday the court also issued an additional arrest warrant for Bashir. These developments come at a crucial time in Sudan's history, when the south is preparing for a referendum on independence scheduled to take place in January 2011, exactly six years after the end of a prolonged north-south civil war that claimed the lives of millions and wrought horrific devastation in the south.

Please also remember the victims of Sunday night's bombings in Kampala in your prayers. Explosions at two different sites in neighboring Uganda's capital city caused the death of more than 70 people who had gathered to watch the World Cup championship. One of the explosions took place near the Diocese of Torit's guesthouse in the south of the city. Somali Al-Shabab terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attacks, stating that they were carried out in retaliation for the presence of Ugandan soldiers among the African Union peacekeeping troops in Somalia. Further attacks against Uganda and Burundi (which also has soldiers among the AU peacekeepers) were threatened unless both countries withdraw their troops from Somalia.


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