ICC asked to charge Bashir with genocide

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, July 8 (UPI) -- Prosecutors have asked the judges of the International Criminal Court to reconsider their decision not to charge Sudan's president with war crimes.

The prosecutors filed an appeal Monday, the BBC reported.

In March, the judges issued an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir. The charges included war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor for the court, argues he and his colleagues assembled evidence showing the Sudanese state was mobilized to destroy three tribal groups in Darfur for at least six years.

Moreno-Ocampo is now in Africa discussing Sudan with leaders there. Last week, leaders of African Union member states said they would not help the ICC arrest Bashir because the court had ignored their request to delay his indictment.

The court issued warrants in 2007 for Sudanese Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ahmed Haroun and Ali Abdul Rahman, a leader of the Janjaweed militia. Both remain in Sudan, which refuses to send them to the Hague, in the Netherlands.

The United Nations says at least 300,000 people have been killed in Darfur and 2 million forced out of their homes.