U.N. may want to suspend ICC action on Bashir: Russia

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council may want to consider suspending any war crimes indictment of Sudan's president by the International Criminal Court, Russia's U.N. ambassador told reporters on Monday.

The African Union has urged the Security Council to put on hold any ICC decision to accept the court's chief prosecutor's call for an indictment of and arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir over war crimes in Darfur.

The AU appeal, issued on Monday after a meeting of the African Union Peace and Security Council in Ethiopia, followed a similar appeal by the Arab League and boosted Khartoum's diplomatic efforts to block any indictment.

"We should be very attentive to their appeals," Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin told reporters ahead of a meeting of the Security Council on other issues.

Under Article 16 of the ICC statute, the 15-nation Security Council can pass a resolution suspending ICC investigations or prosecutions for a renewable period of one year.

"If something of this sort (on an Article 16 suspension) is initiated, it's at least worth considering," Churkin said.

Churkin said Russia should not be the one to initiate the suspension process, though he made it clear that there were strong arguments for suspending any ICC action on Bashir.

"This is a special case and we are dealing with a situation where a lot is at stake in terms of peacekeeping in eastern Africa, and in terms of the future of Sudan," Churkin said.

ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo accuses Bashir of orchestrating a genocide that has killed 35,000 people outright, at least another 100,000 through "slow death" and forced 2.5 million from their homes.

The crisis over a possible indictment of Bashir has raised fears for the stalled peace process in Africa's biggest state.

SECURITY COUNCIL RESPONSIBILITY

Last week U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the ICC's independence must be respected though he urged it to consider the consequences of its actions. Churkin said this was a job for the Security Council.

"I think the Security Council has this responsibility," he said. "We respect the independence of the prosecutor and the ICC. However, there is a responsibility for the Security Council, and it cannot walk away from this responsibility."

Russia, like the United States and China, is not a party to the ICC. It has been reluctant to support council intervention on issues like Sudan and Zimbabwe, arguing in favor of a hands-off approach that critics say is tantamount to supporting impunity.

Amnesty International accused Russia last year of supplying arms to Sudan for use in Darfur. Moscow denied the charge.

Sudan's U.N. envoy has made it clear that it wants the council to move fast to block the ICC.

French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert, however, said he believed the council should wait until after the ICC judges make a decision on Moreno-Ocampo's recommendations, which could take months, before considering taking up the issue.

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad added: "I think council action on this issue in the foreseeable future is unlikely."

It is unclear whether France, Britain and the United States would use their powers as permanent veto-wielding council members to block a suspension of an ICC indictment of Bashir.

In addition to Russia and China, other council members that would likely support an Article 16 suspension are Vietnam, South Africa, Libya and Indonesia, diplomats say.

The mandate of the joint U.N.-AU peacekeeping force in Darfur (UNAMID) expires at the end of the month. Some diplomats and U.N. officials have expressed concern that Sudan might withdraw its consent for the deployment of the force in Darfur if the council refuses to do anything about the ICC moves.

There are only some 9,500 UNAMID troops and police in Darfur out of a planned deployment of 26,000.

(Editing by Anthony Boadle)