UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is seeking help from Sudan's president to free two members of the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur who have been held hostage for more than 100 days.
U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said it was the first call between the secretary-general and Omar al-Bashir since the court issued an arrest warrant for Sudan's president in March on charges of orchestrating war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.
Ban's phone call to al-Bashir Sunday came two days after Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, said the Sudanese leader was increasingly isolated and will ultimately face international justice.
Nesirky emphasized that Ban's call was purely on humanitarian grounds, and one of the two abductees is gravely ill.
