|
| |
|
|
|
Charges of Darfur genocide pose no threat to Sudanese leader's rule |
|
|
|
Written by Hamza Hendawi, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
|
|
Tuesday, 15 July 2008 |
A Sudanese woman demonstrates in front of the republican palace in Khartoum, Sudan, Tuesday, July 15, 2008 to support Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who had genocide charges filed against him at the International Criminal Court on Monday. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/Abd Raouf
Related Items
No keywords found
KHARTOUM, Sudan - Sudan's president, buoyed by support from the Arab and African world, showed no signs of giving in to pressure on Tuesday after an international prosecutor sought his arrest for war crimes in Darfur.
Omar al-Bashir has emerged tarnished but apparently unbeaten after the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court charged him with orchestrating campaigns that the UN says killed 300,000 people and driven 2.5 million others from their homes in the western province.
"This regime is not in crisis," said Mahjoub Mohammed Saleh, a respected analyst and co-founder of Sudan's independent al-Ayam daily.
Life flowed normally in the capital one day after prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo asked the court for the president's arrest in The Hague, with no mass protests or hasty evacuations of foreigners, UN officials or aid workers.
The UN peacekeeping force in Darfur announced it was temporarily relocating non-essential personnel to neighbouring countries. There were no figures immediately available.
Khartoum's tranquility was marred only by a few hundred vocal al-Bashir supporters rallying outside his palace. Another hundred or so lawyers protested outside the French Embassy in the late afternoon.
Sudan sees France, along with the United States and Britain, as behind what it describes as a campaign of destabilization.
Many Sudanese and even the United Nations, analysts say, want to see the Sudanese president stay in power to revive faltering peace negotiations with Darfur rebels and to make good on his promise to hold what could be Sudan's freest and fairest elections in decades next year.
"The indictment targets the symbol of our sovereignty at a time when Sudan is enjoying unprecedented economic prosperity and political progress," said Fathi Khalil, a prominent member of al-Bashir's ruling National Congress Party.
A soldier turned politician, al-Bashir on Monday signed a new and progressive election law that many in Sudan view as a turning point in the country's march toward genuine democratic rule. The law sets aside 25 per cent of the seats in the national parliament for women and allows foreign experts to monitor the vote, slated for the fall of 2009.
Al-Bashir may even have been bolstered by the support he received from some countries along with the criticism levelled at the tribunal.
The Arab League, which is to meet in an emergency session Saturday to discuss the charges, offered support to al-Bashir, as did Egypt. The league's envoy to Sudan, Salah Halima, described the indictment as a serious blow to peace efforts in Darfur and said it would have a negative impact on the stability of a region already beset by internal and cross-border conflict.
He added that "there are countries with political agendas that target Sudan."
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh telephoned al-Bashir to express support while his Foreign Ministry called the indictment "a grave and unacceptable interference in Sudan's internal affairs and in the affairs of all Islamic and Arab countries."
Tanzania, the current chair of the African Union, also criticized the prosecutor's decision to seek an arrest warrant for al-Bashir, saying the move will undermine peace efforts in Darfur, torn by conflict since 2003, and complicate security on the ground.
But the most powerful support came from China, which warned the charges could destabilize the region and its Foreign Ministry spokesman Lieu Jianchao said "China expresses great concern and worry."
Al-Bashir, a dour-looking balding man in his 60s, came to power in a 1989 military coup that toppled a democratically elected but inept government. Already the longest serving head of state since independence in 1956, al-Bashir represents a kind of continuity that Sudan, jolted by numerous coups and attempted coups since the 1950s, has not seen in decades.
He took over at a time when southern rebels were closing in on the country's north, parts of Khartoum went for days without electricity or water, drivers lined up at gas stations from the pre-dawn darkness for a few gallons and the country suffered hyperinflation.
Al-Bashir ordered one military offensive after another against rebel-held areas in southern Sudan before a 2005 peace deal ended more than two decades of fighting. Sudan then next struck oil and gas lines became a thing of the past.
Basic items like sugar, once available only with foreign currency at duty free stores in the 1980s, are now plentiful at the new grocery stores that have sprung up in recent years.
Unless dropped, analysts say, the case against al-Bashir could undermine the UN search for a peaceful settlement to Darfur's conflict and even undermine the fragile 2005 peace deal that ended the war in southern Sudan.
 |
|
Last Updated ( Sunday, 07 September 2008 )
|
|
|
Who's Online
We have 50 guests and 6 members online
|
Subscribe to this comment's feed
