The law unto themselves

“All animals are equal, yet some animals are more equal than others,” George Orwell famously wrote in his political satire Animal Farm, in which pigs rule over all other animals, using dogs as their foot soldiers. The novel has not lost an inch of its value in today’s “new world order.” On July 14, the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo accused Sudanese president Omar Bashir of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. While every sane person wishes a rapid end to the tragedy that includes mass murder, rape and some 2.5 million people displaced, international prosecution of Sudan’s sitting head of state may bring more harm than good. Legal action may not only jeopardize the UN peacekeeping operation in Sudan, but is likely to end all hopes for a negotiated settlement of the conflict. More importantly, the prosecution of Bashir may very well bury the