Darfur Update

Tenango speaking with a sheik who had just arrived at a refugee camp in Eastern Chad. 6 May 2008 (Photo courtesy of Tenango International Exploration & Film Production)

Who says there's no such thing as international justice?

Last week, Austin-based peace activists Rio Tenango and Leah Pries, akat The Peacepipe Repairman and Kitten, talked to the Chronicle about their experiences in the Darfur refugee camps. Their greatest hope was that the International Criminal Court would bring more charges against the people behind the genocide in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Big development: The ICC is pushing forward with another prosecution in the ongoing bloodbath in Sudan. On Monday, ICC Prosecutor Luis-Moreno O'Campo presented evidence that Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir should be held accountable for "10 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes."

Unsurprisingly, Tenango's pretty happy about this step forward. "Before O'campo's announcement Monday morning, the ICC had NEVER gone after a sitting head of state," he said. "Kitten and I danced as O'campo made history!"

The court will now consider the evidence and any potential charges, which could take another three months. Of course, al-Bashir has already threatened bloody retribution against O'campo and the international community, and the Sudanese government has said it will not cooperate if indictments are issued. But there's already some positive signs that the prosecution may stick. The Japanese government, which last month committed members of its Self-Defence Forces to peacekeeping operations in the region, has already said it will "closely watch how the ICC will move."

See Tenango and Pries' full response after the jump, and visit their website at www.KittenAndThePeacePipeRepairman.com.

People thought Kitten & I were crazy when we included President Al-Bashir in the list we submitted to the ICC concerning war criminals in Sudan. Before O'campo's announcement Monday morning, the ICC had NEVER gone after a sitting head of state. Kitten & I danced as O'campo made history!

The international community must understand that peace will never come to Darfur as long as al-Bashir is in power. Al-Bashir's war in *southern* Sudan resulted in 2.3 million civilian deaths - the equivalent population of Houston proper! He has honed his skills significantly since then and knows exactly how to manipulate the U.N., client states, and the media to accomplish his agent. Luis-Moreno O'campo did not yield to the most superlative of threats. Stop and imagine what a man like al-Bashir could do to O'campo and his family. We are talking about a man that paid mercenaries to rape tens of thousands of non-Arab women to "dilute their bloodlines" of their ancestral heritage. While the U.N. chewed on politics, O'campo acted.

Critics of O'campo say al-Bashir may retaliate for the indictment by ordering more deaths in Darfur. I assure you these antagonists have never sat down in person with the victimized Darfuris. Every single IDP and refugee I met in Western Darfur & Eastern Chad said they are 100% in favor of further indictments. They would rather watch 10,000 of their kinsmen die tomorrow, than experience 4 million more deaths that would result from the absence of legal prosecution.

So what is next? That depends on *YOU*. If the global citizenry rallies around the prosecution of the "Sudanese 6" (Harun, Kushayb, *Bashir*, Taha, Hilal, & Minawi), then O'campo will have the tools he needs to trump Article 16 of the Rome Statute, which could permanently freeze the case. Without YOU the "Sudanese 6" will never be arrested and millions more will die.

For information on how you can help, go to www.KittenAndThePeacePipeRepairman.com