March 4, 2009: The International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague issued a warrant for the arrest of Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashir. Click here to read about it on TimesOnLine.co.uk. Being the first case of a head of state receiving such charges while still in office will surely place Omar al-Bashir in history. Yet, this step forward in bringing peace to Darfur might be far from the leap that millions of refugees and caring people throughout the world have expected.

The article explains some of the complications around this decision. In summary, however, the ICC did not include charges for genocide against Omar al-Bashir. This is disappointment number 1, closely followed by the fact that while valid on the territory of more than 100 countries, serious questions are posed whether the arrest warrant will be enacted and al-Bashir – arrested, and if it happens – when will it happen?

Currently, the UN reports of increased military presence in Sudan and confirms the president’s rejection of the warrant’s validity. Several aid organizations have already been kicked out of Sudan as a result of the ICC’s decision. The most ironic part is that the UN itself fears to apply the warrant because they might be kicked out as well. So, will Sudan become the latest example of the UN’s disability? Let’s hope not.

You might want to read a further resource on the topic covering America’s side of the story in the context of Obama’s promises for intervention in Darfur: World Agenda: America’s day in court, thanks to Omar al-Bashir?

In the mean time, please, continue to pray for a solution in Darfur; spread the word and encourage others to educate themselves on the latest of genocides happening before our eyes.

UPDATE: If you have come to this article through an e-mail I’ve sent you, please, take note of a mistake I made in its text. The town and area of Srebrenica is in fact in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was the Serbian army under the command of Radko Mladic who executed the killings. Please, read more about the topic here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srebrenica_massacre.

The more I look at the world around me, the more I become convinced that it’s full of Cains. White, black, yellow, mixed, tall, short, well-educated but also some illiterate, some very active, others rather indifferent… Too bad, however, that God’s voice is not as audible as one might want it to be. It appears far too easy for us to not even hear Him asking “Where is your brother Abel? What have you done?”

The dead have names. The dead have families. The dead have children.

I just recently shared with you about the genocide which is taking place in Darfur and over the (practically nonexistent) border with Chad (click here to read that post). A very important point in the development of the Darfur war is approaching. On March 4, the International Criminal Court is expected to announce whether it will issue an arrest warrant for the Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir convicting him of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur (click here to read a news article about this).

After 6 years of ongoing mass killings in Darfur and dreadfully slow and rather crippled actions on behalf of the rest of the world for stopping the genocide, there is potential for a major leap in resolving the conflict. I am pleading with you to pray that the Sudanese president may be convicted for the crimes against people which he has commited and consequentially arrested. Pray also that God may continue to use the voice of people throughout the world who put the conflict in Darfur before the eyes of the public and through this demand a response from their governments and the UN.

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