War Crimes

The New York Times reports on the “increasing likelihood” that Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, will ask judges for an arrest warrant for Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir for the war crimes in Darfur:

The indictment of a sitting head of state in a war-torn country would not be unprecedented: Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia and Charles Taylor of Liberia were both charged by international war crimes courts while in office.

But the complexity and fragility of Sudan’s multiple conflicts have led many diplomats, analysts and aid workers to worry that the Sudanese government could lash out at the prosecutor’s move by expelling Western diplomats and relief workers who provide aid to millions of people displaced by the fighting, provoking a vast crisis and shutting the door to vital diplomatic efforts to bring lasting peace.

The dueling objectives have exposed a growing tension: between justice and peace, that is, between the prosecution of war criminals and the compromises of diplomacy.

Tensions between the North and South are at an all time high since the conflict in May over oil-rich Abyei, which displaced 50,000 people. Some argue this move against the president can make an already shaky situation much worse. Other analysts disagree, saying this increased pressure could change the government’s behavior. A precarious situation.