The Sudanese president has faced the threat of ICC prosecution since 2009
The
president of Sudan has claimed victory over the International Criminal
Court after it ended its probe into allegations of war crimes in Darfur.
The ICC charged Omar al-Bashir in 2009 for crimes in the
region dating back to 2003, but he refused to recognise the authority of
the court in The Hague.
He said the court had failed in its attempts to "humiliate" Sudan.
Announcing the suspension on Friday, ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda blamed it on lack of action by the UN.
She called for a "dramatic shift" in the UN Security
Council's approach, saying inaction was emboldening the perpetrators of
war crimes in Darfur to continue their brutality, particularly against
women and girls.
Other Sudanese officials have also been charged by the ICC - but none have been arrested.
Darfur has been riven by conflict since rebels took up arms
in 2003. The UN says more than 300,000 lives have been lost, mostly from
disease.
The suspension of the Darfur investigation came just over a
week after the ICC dropped charges against another head of state, Kenyan
President Uhuru Kenyatta.
He faced prosecution over ethnic violence in 2007-08 in the
aftermath of Kenya's election. That was the court's most high-profile
case.
'It surrendered'
Mr Bashir said the Sudanese people had stood firm against "colonial courts".
ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said perpetrators of brutality would only be emboldened
Rebels stand by as a Darfur village burns
after allegedly being set alight by pro-government militia in September
2004 - one of many alleged crimes during the conflict
"Last night the ICC raised its arms and surrendered," he said in remarks on Saturday.
"It is the people of Sudan who stood firm and said that no
Sudanese official shall surrender to colonial courts at The Hague or
anywhere else."
Human Rights Watch said that Mr Bashir had got the wrong message from the decision to suspend the case.
"Rather than the prosecutor (Fatou Bensouda) holding up her
hands in defeat, I think she threw the challenge down to the Security
Council itself, that they, the Council, need to step up to the plate and
assist her in the arrest and surrender of Omar al-Bashir and other
accused, for fair trial at the ICC," Human Rights Watch spokesman
Richard Dicker told the BBC.
Last month, Sudan asked the UN-African Union force in Darfur (Unamid) to close its human rights office in the capital, Khartoum.
The move came amid tensions over the mission's attempt to
investigate claims of mass rape by Sudanese troops in the Darfur village
of Tabit.
Sudan says it has carried out its own investigation and has found no proof that anyone was raped.
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