By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The chief prosecutor of theInternational Criminal Court on Thursday said he would not backdown from his call for the arrest of Sudan's president forgenocide, but the U.N. secretary general said the court mustconsider the possible impact of its investigations.
ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has accusedSudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of a campaign ofgenocide that killed 35,000 people outright, at least another100,000 through a "slow death" and forced 2.5 million to fleetheir homes in Sudan's western Darfur region.
He asked the ICC on Monday to issue an arrest warrant forBashir on suspicion of genocide and other crimes againsthumanity. Sudan has dismissed Moreno-Ocampo's accusations aspolitically motivated and said it will ignore any warrant.
China, South Africa and others have expressed concern thatan indictment of Bashir could damage the stalled peace processaimed at ending the 5-year-old conflict in Darfur.
Moreno-Ocampo, in his first public comments since askingfor Bashir's arrest, said this was not a factor for him.
"I am the prosecutor and I have to do my judicial part ofthe work for the court," he told reporters. "I kept myindependence and I cannot be a political factor," he said whenasked whether arresting Bashir would harm peace negotiations.
ICC judges are expected to make a decision on whether toissue a warrant for Bashir's arrest in October or November
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon offered a differentview, saying the ICC also must consider ramifications of itswork without sacrificing its independence.
"We must seek to strike the correct balance between theduty of justice and the pursuit of peace," he said.
Moreno-Ocampo, who was visiting the United Nations tocelebrate the 10th anniversary of the signing of the RomeTreaty that created the ICC, also denied there was any link ofthe timing of his high-profile call to the anniversary.
'GATE OF FIRE'
Diplomats have said that Khartoum might retaliate againstan ICC arrest warrant for Bashir by withdrawing its consent forthe U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur if theSecurity Council does not intervene.
Sudan's U.N. ambassador, Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem, has saidhe is working with Russia, China and members of the AfricanUnion and Arab League to persuade them to ask the U.N. SecurityCouncil to freeze any ICC indictment against Bashir.
Diplomats in New York say the Arab League and the AU'sPeace and Security Council are expected to call on the U.N.Security Council soon to block any ICC moves in the interestsof bringing peace to Darfur.
Several Western diplomats on the council have said Bashircould escape indictment if he ended what they see as impunityfor two men the ICC charged last year over Darfur. Khartoum hasnot handed them to the court or started legal proceedings inSudan to investigate the allegations.
Speaking to reporters after Moreno-Ocampo's newsconference, Abdalhaleem gave no details about how Khartoummight react if the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Bashir buthinted that something big could happen.
"It's a recipe for disaster," he said. "It is a collectiveresponsibility of the council to move together to halt it.Otherwise it is an invitation for a gate of fire on thecountry."
(Additional reporting by Patrick Worsnip; Editing by VickiAllen)
