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Tue 07 Jul 2008Fall-out from Sudan indictment
YESTERDAY'S INDICTMENT of Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir by the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur places the requirements of justice and peace in undoubted tension.
This is the first time a sitting head of state has been indicted, and a decision to go ahead with prosecution must be made by the court itself within three months. Having been utterly frustrated by Sudan's failure to do anything about earlier indictments over Darfur the ICC prosecutor has now gone to the top. But in doing so he risks undermining the larger peace process between the north and south of the country, which would destabilise the entire region.
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