The International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed to the African Union to assist in the arrest of two Sudanese Ministers of State for their involvement in the Darfur crisis. A Deputy Prosecutor at the ICC, Ms Fatou Bensouda, made the appeal in a paper presented at the 11th Pre-Summit Consultative Meeting on Gender Mainstreaming of the AU. She said the Court issued arrest warrants against Ahmad Harun, Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs who was also a former Minister of State for the Interior of Sudan, and Ali Kushayb a Militia/Janjaweed leader, since April last year. According to her, investigations had revealed that the two committed crimes against humanity and war crimes. The Pre-Trial Chamber, she stressed, found that the case fell within the jurisdiction of the Court and was admissible, without prejudice to future challenges under the Statute. Ms Bensouda said that since, the Court issued the arrest warrants, it received no response from the Sudanese government concerning national proceedings. She noted that there had not been any challenge to admissibility from either the Government or Ahmad Harun or Ali Kushayb. The ICC Deputy Prosecutor said on October 17th last year, the Registry submitted a request to the Sudan for an update as to the state of affairs regarding the arrest warrants but received no response from the authorities. That necessitated the call on the AU to support the effort of ICC by pressurising the Sudanese government to submit the two officials to face trial. The Pre-Summit Conference, the African Women’s consultation on Darfur was organised by the Geneva-based Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS) to prepare a paper to be tabled at the 10th African Union Summit, with the support of the African Centre for Gender and Social Development of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, (ECA) and other organizations. According to the ICC Deputy Prosecutor, under the terms of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1593, “the Government of the Sudan and all other parties to the conflict in Darfur are obliged to cooperate fully and provide any necessary assistance to the Court and the Prosecutor in pursuance of its projects”. She said the Prosecutor, in accordance with proceedings, reported to the UN Security Council on December 5, 2007, that the Government of the Sudan had not complied with its legal obligations, had violated Resolution 1593, and refused to cooperate with the Office of the Prosecutor or the Court. “While the Sudan has known the nature of the case against Harun and Kushayb for nearly a year, the Sudanese authorities have done nothing. They have taken no steps to prosecute them domestically, or to arrest and transfer them to The Hague, Ms. Bensouda stated. Source: GNA