The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court filed an application Friday to appeal the absence of genocide charges on an arrest warrant issued against Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, as the three aid workers held hostages in Darfur were set free.
"Killings, as a matter of law and as a matter of fact, are not the only way to commit genocide," the prosecution argued in documents filed with the court, referring to the judges’ decision not to include genocide on the warrant.
The ICC issued a warrant for Bashir’s arrest last Wednesday on five counts of crimes against humanity and two of war crimes committed in Darfur — its first-ever warrant for a sitting head of state.
It failed to include three genocide charges as had been requested by prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.
"The majority decision (of the judges who issued the warrant) has misunderstood the prosecution’s arguments pertaining to the test to be applied (for genocide), states the application, published on the ICC website.
"The decision contains fundamental errors."
Locating the kidnapped workers
In the meantime, the three foreign aid workers from the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres captured in Darfur yesterday at gunpoint are free, Italy’s foreign ministry said late Friday in a statement carried by ANSA news agency.
The Sudanese government earlier said that it has located the place of the kidnapped aid workers and was in contact with the kidnappers.
The three workers from MSF’s Belgian arm were seized along with two Sudanese as tension rose in Sudan following the ICC decision against Bashir.
MSF in Belgium had said the two Sudanese workers were quickly released but three foreigners were still being held. It identified them as a Canadian nurse, an Italian doctor and a French coordinator. Catholic missionary news agency MISNA gave their names as Laura Archer, Mauro D’Ascanio and Raphael Meonier.
The identities of the kidnappers were not immediately clear.
Blaming bandits
A Sudanese official early on Friday blamed "bandits" for kidnapping the three foreign aid workers in Darfur and also said there was no news about efforts to free the hostages.
"The (kidnappers) were bandits," Ali Yusef, director of protocol at the foreign ministry, told AFP.
On Thursday, an official in Darfur said the kidnappers had demanded money.
U.N. officials say at least 2.5 million were left homeless in Darfur
Another official said the hostages were "okay" and that the government was working to release them.
The kidnapping came a week after Sudan had shut down 16 aid organizations in response to the ICC decision, saying they had helped the court in the Hague, an accusation aid groups deny. Two arms of MSF were among those asked to leave, although MSF Belgium was not among them.
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon again urged Khartoum to rescind its expulsion order and said he was "deeply concerned" by the abductions.
"A new trend"
" Around 30 international staff left Darfur and are now in Khartoum "
MSF spokeswoman Susan Sandars
Since the issuing of the warrant– the court’s first against a sitting head of state — the United Nations and United States have warned about security problems in Sudan and threats to foreign targets.
Wednesday’s kidnapping has shaken aid groups working in Darfur, one of the continent’s remotest regions.
Thirty workers with MSF left Darfur for Khartoum, a spokeswoman said on Friday, adding the some of the group’s 35 workers remained behind to support their captured colleagues.
"Around 30 international staff left Darfur and are now in Khartoum," Susan Sandars told AFP by phone from Nairobi.
MSF’s Dutch and French chapters were among the 13 groups ordered out of Darfur.
Although banditry is common in parts of the region, this was the first kidnapping of Western aid workers since two Britons were briefly detained by Darfur rebels in 2005.
One aid worker in Darfur, who requested anonymity, said he hoped "it is not a new trend."
The U.N. says 300,000 people have died in Darfur since ethnic rebels took up arms in 2003 against the Arab-dominated Khartoum government in Khartoum, complaining of discrimination. Khartoum puts the figure at 10,000.