[JURIST] The UN Security Council Monday issued a short presidential statement [text] calling on Sudan to work with the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] to "put an end to impunity for the crimes committed in Darfur." Sudan is not a party to the ICC, but must cooperate to fulfill its obligations under Council Resolution 1593 [text], which established jurisdiction over the Darfur situation. When the measure was adopted in 2005, Sudan's envoy to the UN adamantly opposed it, calling the action "a tool to exercise cultural superiority." ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official profile] recently accused [JURIST report] the Sudanese government of being intimately involved in the planning, execution, and cover-up of atrocities committed against civilians in Darfur [JURIST news archive]. The UN News Centre has more.

The Security Council, the ICC and Moreno-Ocampo have repeatedly urged Sudan to comply with Resolution 1593 and ICC attempts to prosecute Darfur war crimes suspects. In April, Moreno-Ocampo called on Sudan to arrest [JURIST report] two Darfur war crimes suspects in the country, former Sudanese Minister of the Interior Ahmed Muhammad Harun and former militia leader Ali Kushayb [TrialWatch profiles]. The ICC issued arrest warrants [JURIST report] for the two men in May 2007 for "crimes against the civilian population in Darfur." Sudan has refused to cooperate with the ICC over the Darfur situation, and has responded strongly to Security Council and ICC statements on the matter. Last week, the Sudan ambassador to the United Nations called Moreno-Ocampo a terrorist [JURIST report], and called for his removal. Earlier this month, Sudan accused Moreno-Ocampo of hindering the peace process in Darfur [Reuters report] by preparing a "fictitious and vicious" case against its government officials in his report to the UN. In December 2007, Sudan rejected [JURIST report] Moreno-Ocampo's previous report to the UN Security Council, in which he condemned Sudan for failing to hand over Harun.