Recognizing our obligation to help protect human rights and uphold the rule of law, we, the undersigned civil society organizations, appeal to African ICC States Parties to reaffirm their support for the ICC and their commitment to abide by their obligations under the Rome Statute, particularly in relation to the arrest and transfer of the President of Sudan to the ICC.

Three years after asking Senegal to prosecute the former dictator of Chad, Hissène Habré, the African Union should ensure that the trial finally begins to move forward. African heads of state will come together in Sirte, Libya on July 1, 2009, for an AU summit.

The African Union should urge the United Nations Security Council to set up a commission of inquiry to document the worst human rights abuses in Somalia, an essential first step in creating justice and accountability.

In advance of their summit in Libya, Human Rights Watch writes to AU Heads of State to ask them to address a few of Africa's most pressing human rights concerns - security in Somalia, accountability for crimes in Chad, and support for the International Criminal Court.

The United Nations Security Council should make sure that its existing commitments to protect civilians during armed conflict are actually carried out.

Human Rights Watch urges Security Council ambassadors to use the open debate on June 26 to discuss ways in which the United Nations Security Council can more effectively ensure the protection of civilians in armed conflict.

Nearly two hundred thousand local people fled their homes when armed militias began to devastate eastern Chad in late 2005. Now, as conditions improve, some are trying to return home. Many find their land has been seized. Others are forced to join one of the paramilitary groups that still roam the countryside. Some face death.

Members of armed paramilitary groups are a serious threat to civilians who fled violence and insecurity and are now returning to their villages. People who have returned to their home regions have been killed, forcibly recruited into paramilitary groups, and threatened with death by armed men who in many cases have seized their land.