Britain to back immunity for Sudan president in bid for peace

BRITAIN is backing efforts to provide Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir with immunity from an expected genocide indictment from the International Criminal Court.

Foreign Office officials confirmed to The Scotsman that London is backing a plan to give immunity to al-Bashir, accused by ICC prosecutors of masterminding massacres that have claimed 200,000 lives.

The deal, which will be discussed this week at the United Nations General Assembly, would involve Sudan promising to make significant progress with peace talks, supporting the deployment of UN peacekeepers in Darfur, and holding war crimes trials of its own for lesser figures. "We're not getting involved in negotiations", said one British official. "There has to be a very substantial change in Sudan's cooperation."

London is supported by Paris, whose UN ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert told news agencies that immunity was the prize that could be offered for Sudan agreeing to full inclusive dialogue.

Al-Bashir was accused of genocide in July by ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, who says he was the mastermind behind a campaign of ethnic cleansing that has left an estimated 200,000 dead and two million refugees.

Since the charge was laid, there have been mounting calls for al-Bashir to be given immunity from China, Russia, the Arab League and, most recently, the African Union. But human rights groups are furious, and have launched a campaign of intensive lobbying at the United Nations seeking to get London and Paris to change their minds.

"We are expressing the strongest possible opposition to granting Omar al-Bashir a get-out-of-jail-free card," said Richard Dicker, international justice director of Human Rights Watch. "The Security Council made a commitment to bringing justice to the people of Darfur for horrific crimes, and to derail the judicial process would be a betrayal."

His organisation, and Amnesty International, are hoping to meet with David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, at the UN later this week and press their case, reminding him of the strong support Britain has previously given to the ICC.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has given strong support to the ICC in the past, in line with the Labour Party's public commitment to international justice. But Foreign Office officials have begun to despair at the lack of progress in Darfur and see the lifting of the indictment as offering them leverage. A mixed Africa Union and UN peacekeeping force is facing obstruction from Sudan as it tries to deploy, and peace talks between Khartoum and a splintering rebel alliance are stalled.

One possibility backed by London is that al-Bashir would end the obstruction and hand over two other ICC indictees, government minister Ahmad Harun and militia commander Ali Kushayb, who were charged last year.

The ICC was mandated by the UN Security Council to investigate Darfur in April 2005. But the Council has the right, under Article 16 of the ICC constitution, to suspend a prosecution if all members agree.

Supporters of the court argue that granting immunity to al-Bashir would undermine the value of the court. Former human rights chief of the UN, Louise Arbour, said giving such immunity would send a dangerous signal to would-be war criminals that justice is negotiable.

Rise of terror means UN needed more than ever, says Bush

GEORGE Bush, who once warned that the United Nations was in danger of becoming irrelevant, said yesterday that multinational organisations are now "needed more urgently than ever" to combat terrorists and extremists who are threatening world order.

In his eighth and final speech to the UN General Assembly, the US president said the international community must stand firm against the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran. He said that despite past disagreements over the US-led war in Iraq, members of the UN must unite to help the struggling democracy succeed. And he scolded Russia for invading Georgia, calling it a violation of the UN charter.

"The United Nations' charter sets forth the equal rights of nations large and small," he said. "Russia's invasion of Georgia was a violation of those words."

Mr Bush, who has had a testy relationship with the UN, which he says has been slow to address global problems, called on it to focus more on results and aggressively rally behind young democracies like Georgia, Ukraine, Lebanon, Afghanistan and Liberia.

He said that instead of issuing statements and resolutions after terrorist attacks, the UN and such organisations must work closely to prevent violence. Every nation has responsibilities to prevent its territory from being used for terrorist, drug trafficking and nuclear proliferation, he said.

Mr Bush, who ordered the invasion of Iraq in 2003 without the UN's blessing, said: "The UN and other multilateral organisations are needed more urgently than ever."

He called for an immediate review of the UN Human Rights Council; a stronger effort to help the people of Myanmar live free of repression; and more pressure on the government of Sudan to uphold pledge to address violence in Darfur.

Opening the annual ministerial meeting of the UN General Assembly, Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General, warned that the global financial crisis endangers the organisation's campaign to fight poverty, as he joined a host of world leaders calling for global leadership to restore order to international financial markets.

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, used his speech to the General Assembly to call for a summit of world leaders in November to examine ways to overhaul a "crazy" financial system in the wake of the crisis that has rocked global markets.