All the opposition groups in Darfur celebrated when the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced on July 14 that he was seeking the indictment of Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir on the charge of genocide, but almost everybody else had a problem with it. They don't doubt that al-Bashir is a ruthless dictator who is guilty of ordering many thousands of deaths. They just think that putting him on an international "wanted" list is unwise.
Tanzanian Foreign Minister Bernard Membe, speaking on behalf of the African Union, said: "We are asking for the ICC to re-examine its decision. . . . If you arrest Bashir, you will create a leadership vacuum in Sudan. The outcome could be equal to that of Iraq." Membe and many other people fear that the indictment of al-Bashir, far from ending the conflict in Darfur, could reignite the much bigger civil war between northern and southern Sudan.
Andrew Natsios, once U.S. special envoy for Sudan, was also worried that the ICC was playing with fire: "This indictment may well shut off the last remaining hope for a peaceful settlement (for Darfur)." United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon phoned al-Bashir to assure him that the ICC is separate from the U.N. In Khartoum there was defiance from al-Bashir, and warnings from opposition leaders that this was not a good idea.