War Crimes Leverage

International court charges against Sudan's president might be used to win some relief for Darfur.

THE ANNOUNCEMENT of war crimes charges against Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court invoked groans from several of the governments and aid organizations trying to help the people of Darfur -- and not without reason. The United Nations peacekeeping mission to protect Darfur's more than 2 million displaced people is already failing. Though the U.N. Security Council voted a year ago to authorize a 26,000-member force, only a few hundred troops have so far joined the 9,000 African Union soldiers who previously patrolled Darfur. The force lacks helicopters or armored vehicles and is unable to prevent the regular hijacking of aid vehicles by Darfur's many armed groups; earlier this month seven peacekeepers were killed in an ambush of their convoy.

Mr. Bashir, who in all likelihood could be convicted on the counts of genocide and crimes against humanity with which he was charged, has played his familiar game of sabotage against an international intervention he agreed to only to avoid sanctions and distract the world's attention. He has refused to accept troops from non-Muslim or African countries and has bottled up supplies in port. Many believe that militias backed by his army were behind the recent ambush of peacekeepers and much of the continuing violence in both Darfur and neighboring Chad. Now, some aid groups and U.N. officials believe, he will use his indictment as an excuse to direct more violence at the U.N. force and those it is meant to protect and to reject any further peace negotiations with Darfurian rebels.

It's certainly true that attempts to bring war criminals to justice -- especially by international courts -- more often impede rather than advance peace settlements or regime change. The International Criminal Court, which so far has issued arrest warrants against 11 suspects, has had little luck in bringing its targets to trial or in ending their crimes. Two Sudanese officials previously indicted by the court were shielded and promoted by Mr. Bashir, who placed one of them in charge of the ministry that oversees humanitarian operations in Darfur.

The charges against Mr. Bashir may nevertheless prove useful, if the Security Council makes good use of them. The council has manifestly lacked the leverage to compel the Sudanese dictator to cooperate with peacekeeping operations or make a serious effort to settle with the Darfur rebels. Now it has a little more. The council has the authority to suspend any criminal proceedings against Mr. Bashir for a year; that provides an instrument for pressing his regime for concessions. If such diplomacy were combined with a renewed effort by the United States and European governments to solicit and provide the troops, helicopters and other equipment needed to make the peacekeeping force more effective, the slide toward anarchy in Darfur just might be arrested.