Q&A: Darfur Genocide Charges Brought Against Sudanese President

What are the charges against Omar al-Bashir?

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has accused Bashir of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. In support of the controversial genocide charge, the prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, claims to have evidence to show that the Sudanese president "masterminded and implemented" a plan to destroy three Darfuri tribes: the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa, "on account of their ethnicity". His argument is that Bashir controls government and government proxy forces in Darfur, and the assaults on the tribes and the destruction of their villages could not have continued for several years without his explicit orders.How do you define genocide?

The international legal definition of genocide was laid down in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide. To prove genocide, the prosecutor will have to demonstrate "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group" and the consequent actions taken against that group. Those actions can include killing members of the group, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, creating conditions calculated to bring about the group's destruction, to prevent births within the group for example, or forcibly transferring children out of the group. In this case, Moreno-Ocampo is alleging that mass rape has been used as the principal tool of genocide, as it is aimed at destroying the society of the targeted tribes.What happens now?

The evidence will be considered by a pre-trial tribunal, consisting of three judges, one each from Ghana, Brazil and Latvia. It may take three months or more for them to decide whether to proceed with a trial and issue an arrest warrant for Bashir.If a warrant is issued, who would arrest Bashir?

In theory, the Sudanese authorities are supposed to arrest Bashir. This currently seems highly unlikely, but in the cases against Charles Taylor of Liberia and Slobodan Milosevic of the former Yugoslavia, they fell from power after their indictments and were subsequently arrested. Bashir would face arrest if he traveled to any of the 106 countries who have signed up to the ICC. The US is not a member but would definitely arrest him and hand him over if he went to America. The same is probably not true for China or Russia ? also non-members.