al-Bashir scoffs at the ICC

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir once again demonstrates his contempt for the ICC warrant for his arrest, and he did so at a rally in Darfur to add to the insult:

"No ICC or Security Council or any other party will change our path or touch an eyelash in our eye," al-Bashir shouted at the rally in Niyala's nomad Sabadou area. "The president of Sudan is not elected by Britain or America. Sudan is an independent country."

Clearly, no one mentioned to him that the U.S.A. is not party to the International Criminal Court (at least not yet).

The real challenge is coming at the end of the month, when the Arab League is meeting in Qatar, and al-Bashir has stated he intends to attend. The Arab League as a bloc has rejected the ICC warrant, but Qatar is a signatory state to the treaty establishing the ICC.

Anyone want to put a wager on whether Qatar will fulfill its obligation to assist the court and serve the warrant?

I didn't think so.

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CORRECTION: while Qatar (like many states) has been party to the ICC negotiations, it is not a signatory nor ratified member of the treaty.

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A general assessment of this ICC action and the immediate rejection thereof was made here in The Weekly N&C for March 9th, 2009.