Two Darfur probes to be complete this year

GENEVA, Switzerland, March 13 (UPI) -- The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in Geneva said he will finalize two investigations into Darfur war crimes by the end of the year.

One investigation concerns involvement of Sudanese officials in attacks against civilians and the other is to examine rebel attacks against peacekeepers and aid workers, ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told Swiss Info, a news portal.

ICC judges issued arrest warrants for suspects accused of war crimes in Sudan's Darfur region in early May. The warrants were for Ahmed Haroun, state humanitarian affairs minister, and Ali Mohamed Abdel-Rahman, militia commander, the Sudan Tribune reported. So far, Sudan has resisted handing over the two.

"We are looking at who is behind all this. I know that Ahmad Haroun ... is involved but he is not alone," Moreno-Ocampo said.

The Argentine-born prosecutor said the international community has differing views regarding whether to extradite Haroun and Abdel-Rahman, the Sudanese newspaper said.

"At my last Security Council briefing, many states requested Haroun's arrest, but the international community's lack of consensus and collective action are part of the problem," he said.