News Article by AFP posted on September 05, 2008 at 12:39:22: EST (-5 GMT)
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Sudan's Government In "Crisis" Over ICC Cooperation - Minister THE HAGUE (AFP)-- The Sudanese government is facing a "crisis" of disagreement over cooperation with the International Criminal Court whose prosecutor wants to arrest the country's president, Sudan's foreign minister said Thursday. "There is a crisis in the government, there is a very serious debate," Deng Alor told journalists after meeting his Dutch counterpart Maxime Verhagen in The Hague. "We hope we will reach a consensus before any further move is made by the ICC, " the minister said. The majority National Congress Party of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was against cooperation with the ICC while his own Sudan People's Liberation Movement was in favor, added Alor. "The discussion is still on...there is not much time left" before the judges of the ICC decide whether or not to issue an arrest warrant for the president. This was expected to happen by mid-October, the minister said, adding that an indictment of Bashir could "affect" peace agreements in the country and cause further instability. ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo asked the court in July for an arrest warrant for Bashir on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the country's western Darfur region. The U.N. says up to 300,000 people have died and more than 2.2 million fled their homes since war in Darfur erupted in February 2003. Sudan puts the death toll at 10,000.
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