Sudan Says ICC Warrant against Defense Minister Means 'Nothing'

An International Criminal Court warrant issued against Sudan's defense minister means "nothing" and Khartoum does not care about the decision, the foreign ministry said on Thursday.

The reaction came after the Hague-based court said it has issued an arrest warrant for Defense Minister Abdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein, for alleged crimes against the civilian population in Sudan's western region of Darfur.

"The government will not issue any statement reacting to the ICC decision because we believe it means nothing to us," since the country is not a party to the Rome Statue governing the court, foreign ministry spokesman Al-Obeid Meruh told Agence France Presse.

"We don't care about any decision coming from the ICC."

Hussein, 60, is the sixth person sought by the ICC or before the court for crimes committed in Darfur, where rebel groups drawn from Darfur's non-Arab tribes rose up against the Arab-dominated Khartoum government in 2003.

Among those sought is Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

The court's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said in December when he asked for the warrant against Hussein that it would cover crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur from August 2003 to March 2004.

Hussein, who was interior minister from 2001 to 2005 and also Bashir's special representative for Darfur from 2003 to 2004, is wanted for allegedly coordinating attacks against civilians in villages in west Darfur.