UNITED NATIONS — The International Criminal Court on Wednesday issued its first arrest warrants in Sudan's Darfur conflict, for a government minister and a former militia leader accused of war crimes.
Sudanese officials, however, said they would not hand over the pair, who are charged with dozens of counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The court alleges that the Sudanese government joined with militia groups in systematic attacks against civilians in Darfur as part of an effort to combat rebel movements.
More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2 million displaced in the four-year conflict.
The Sudanese government denies backing the militias, commonly known as \o7janjaweed\f7.
The move by the Hague-based court is a strong indicator that it believes the Khartoum government is unlikely to fulfill its promise to prosecute the pair under its own judicial system. The court can step in only when a country fails to put suspects on trial.
But how the warrants are handled by Sudan, which initially made gestures of cooperation with the ICC, may be a test case for the fledgling court. The ICC has no ability to execute warrants and must rely on the goodwill of governments to hand over suspects.
That prospect appeared dim Wednesday: Sudanese officials said their nation was not a signatory to the court and didn't recognize its actions.
"Sudan has nothing to do with this decision and had already announced that it would not cooperate with the ICC when it comes to trying Sudanese nationals outside of Sudan," Justice Minister Mohammed Ali Mardi told reporters in Khartoum, the capital.
The United Nations Security Council, which passed a resolution in March 2005 requiring Sudan to cooperate with the international court's investigators, is preparing to consider sanctions if diplomatic efforts fail to stop violence in Darfur.
"The government of the Sudan has a legal duty to arrest Ahmad Harun and Ali Kushayb," said ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo in a statement issued from The Hague. "This is the International Criminal Court's decision, and the government has to respect it."
Harun is currently Sudan's minister of state for humanitarian affairs. The court charges that from 2003 to 2005, while a minister of state in charge of the "Darfur Security Desk," Harun encouraged attacks on civilians and pillaging of villages in West Darfur. The warrant lists 42 counts against Harun, linked to a series of attacks.
