The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, has informed the UN Security Council that the Sudanese authorities have refused access to the court's investigators to ousted President Omar al-Bashir, who is currently detained in Khartoum.

This came in a session of the UN Security Council in New York yesterday, Monday, to discuss the 35th report of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on the activities he carried out during the period from last January to early August.

On Saturday, Karim Khan began a 5-day visit to Sudan to discuss ways of cooperation with the Sudanese government regarding the appearance of the wanted persons before the court.

In his speech - via closed-circuit television from Sudan - to the members of the Council, the Public Prosecutor said, "I am in Sudan now for the purpose of strengthening the foundations of our joint work to achieve the principle of accountability."

He added that "cooperation by the Sudanese authorities is necessary if we are to achieve full justice for the victims of Darfur."

"Investigations are continuing into the arrest warrants relating to Mr. Omar al-Bashir, Mr. Abdul Rahim Hussein and Mr. Ahmed Harun, who are in detention in Khartoum," he added.

List of suspects

The list of suspects, in addition to Omar al-Bashir and Ali Kushayb, includes former Defense Minister Abd al-Rahim Muhammad Hussein, and a former leader in the National Congress Party, Ahmed Haroun.

The charges against all of them include extrajudicial killings of more than 260 people and raping dozens of women, in addition to looting, burning and intimidating thousands of residents in West Darfur.

"My office requested access to the suspects through the relevant authorities in Khartoum, but this access was not achieved, but I will continue to investigate these arrest warrants," Khan said.

He considered that "the commencement of trial procedures in the case against Ali Muhammad Ali Abdel Rahman (known as Ali Kushayb) last April 5 is a watershed moment for justice in Darfur and for the relationship between the International Criminal Court and the Security Council."

Kushayb faces 31 charges, including committing war crimes and genocide against civilians in Darfur during 2003 and 2004.

However, Khan added, "It is necessary to focus now on injecting more momentum into the ongoing investigations into the suspects who have been issued with arrest warrants, but have not yet been implemented."

There was no immediate comment from the Sudanese authorities on Khan's statements regarding Al-Bashir, who is currently being tried locally in connection with several cases, the most important of which is the "1989 coup".

In 2003, an armed conflict erupted in the Darfur region between government forces and rebel armed movements, killing about 300,000 people and displacing about 2.5 million others, according to the United Nations.

The Security Council referred the Darfur file to the Criminal Court under Resolution 1593 issued in 2005, and this was the first time that the Council referred a case to the Prosecutor of that Court.