UNITED NATIONS, June 9 (UPI) -- Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is conducting a campaign of genocide in Darfur despite an international warrant for his arrest, a prosecutor said.
U.N. Security Council Resolution 1593 in 2005 referred Sudan to the International Criminal Court. The resolution was passed after an international commission found evidence of serious rights violations in Darfur.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor at the ICC, told the Security Council that Bashir was acting in defiance of the United Nations.
"President Bashir has learned how to continue to commit crimes challenging the authority of the U.N. Security Council and ignoring Resolution 1593, as well as other resolutions," he said in his statement.
Bashir is accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Moreno-Ocampo said Bashir has threatened the international community with consequences if he's indicted.
The prosecutor's comments come as South Sudan prepares to gain formal independence in July following a referendum that was part of a 2005 peace deal in Sudan. Conflict along the de facto border, particularly in the oil-rich region of Abyei, threatens to unravel the peace deal, however.
Sudan hasn't ratified the Rome Statute that founded the ICC.
