ICC Prosecutor Criticizes U.N. Security Council for Inaction over Darfur

International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda rebuked the U.N. Security Council on Friday for failing to push for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Bashir for crimes committed in Darfur.

Presenting her 20th report to the council on Darfur, Bensouda warned that without action from the top U.N. body, the cases against Bashir and three other indicted suspects will remain deadlocked.

"What is needed is a dramatic shift in this council's approach to arresting Darfur suspects," Bensouda told the 15-member council.

Her comments came amid a Ugandan-led campaign for African countries to pull out of the ICC, following the collapse of the case against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. 

Bashir, who has ruled Sudan for 25 years, became the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC in 2009, but he has since continued to travel to countries that have been unwilling to arrest him.

Over the past months, he traveled to Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Ethiopia, which were asked by the court to arrest the Sudanese leader.

Bensouda said "massive new displacements" have taken place this year in Darfur, where rebels have been fighting the Khartoum regime since 2003. 

The council remains deeply divided over the Darfur crisis, with China a key ally of the Khartoum regime.

Bensouda warned that unless the council takes action, there will be "little or nothing to report to you for the foreseeable future."

The prosecutor also said allegations that Sudanese forces raped 200 women and girls in a Darfur village in late October "should shock this council into action" to demand a full investigation.

Sudan has refused to allow U.N. peacekeepers to fully investigate the allegations. A first visit by a U.N. team to the village of Tabit in November was conducted under heavy Sudanese military presence.

At least 300,000 people have been killed in Darfur and two million forced to flee their homes, according to the United Nations.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Friday called on African countries to withdraw from the ICC, saying the court had become a "tool to target" the continent.