| Africa Horn |
| Sudan's president warns foreigners in Darfur |
| 2009-03-09 |
| Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir threatened on Sunday to expel diplomats and more aid groups, brandishing a sword at a Darfur rally days after a Hague court issued a warrant for him for war crimes. The trip is seen as a calculated show of defiance by Bashir in the face of mounting Western criticism of his government's expulsion of 13 aid agencies following the ICC's announcement of the warrant on Wednesday for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the western region. Sudan said that the expelled aid groups helped the ICC. The relief organizations deny any complicity. "We expelled the organizations because they threatened the security of Sudan," Bashir told a rally in Al-Fasher, capital of north Darfur. "We will expel anyone who goes against Sudanese law, whether they are voluntary organizations, diplomatic missions or security forces." Bashir waved the sword as he rallied the crowd, after a speech in which he insulted the court, poured scorn on the West and defended the decision to close down the humanitarian organizations. Bashir shouted out a list of atrocities he said had been carried out by the West, from the mass killing of Native Americans during the foundation of the United States, to the bombings of Hiroshima, Vietnam and Iraq. "They killed millions of Indians ... Why are they not on trial," he said. "The International Criminal Court and everyone who works for it are under my feet," he added, a serious insult across the Arab world. Thousands of people, many riding horses and camels, waved banners and flags to greet Bashir, who rode into the town, waving from the back of an open pick-up truck. Some members of the crowd taunted ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo. One man was seen leading a donkey with an Ocampo mask over its head, while others carried a model of a dog with Ocampo's name written on the side. Before the expulsions, the United Nations and aid groups were running the world's largest humanitarian operation in Darfur where, international experts say, almost six years of conflict have killed 200,000 people and displaced more than 2.7 million people from their homes. Earlier, foreign ministry Under Secretary Mutrif Siddiq warned that the expulsion decision was irreversible. "The decision of the authorities expelling foreign Organizations... is an irreversible decision," he said in a statement carried by the official SUNA news agency. "Evidence has proved their cooperation with the so-called International Criminal Court," Siddiq said. United Nations' agencies in Sudan have warned that the expulsion of key aid groups will have "devastating implications" and that in their absence "much of the aid operation literally comes to a halt." The expelled organizations account for "more than half" the capacity of the aid operation in Darfur, the United Nations reported. Remaining organizations will be allowed to operate in Sudan "as long as they are committed to the laws regulating humanitarian work," Siddiq said. The government is also preparing an "alternative plan" to fill the gap created by the expelled agencies, instead collaborating with "national and friendly foreign NGOs," according to the Sudan Media Centre, a website close to the security services. However, oil-rich Sudan has seen its income slashed with the slump in the price of crude, and experts say it would be difficult to replace the support and experience of the relief agencies, even if the political will exists. "If the life-saving assistance these agencies were providing is not restored shortly, it will have immediate, lasting and profound impacts on the well-being of millions of Sudanese citizens," the United Nations warned. "It is not possible, in any reasonable time frame, to replace the capacity and expertise these agencies have provided over an extended period of time." |
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| Africa Horn |
| Bashir arrest warrant not likely soon: ICC |
| 2008-09-14 |
| A decision on an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is likely to come later than the widely-expected date of mid-October, the International Criminal Court's top prosecutor has said. "Normally, when the judges start to analyze (a case) they call us for hearings and they ask for more information. They have not yet done that," ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told Reuters in an interview on Friday. "I don't know how long it will take, the judges will decide, but I don't think October would be possible," he said. Bashir is accused of orchestrating a campaign of genocide in the Darfur region beginning in 2003 that has killed 35,000 people outright and at least another 100,000 through starvation and disease, with another 2.5 million forced from their homes. Moreno-Ocampo said he had asked Sudan and the Arab League for an update on investigations into a recent attack in a refugee camp to determine whether it was an isolated incident or the start of a new wave of violence against civilians. Sudanese forces attacked South Darfur's volatile Kalma camp on Aug. 25, leaving up to 27 dead and injuring more after surrounding the camp and going inside to search for weapons, according to rebel leaders. Attacks usually take place outside the camps, the prosecutor said. The Khartoum government and army leaders denied the August attack even took place. |
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| Africa Horn |
| Sudan rules out deal with ICC over Bashir warrant |
| 2008-07-18 |
| Sudan on Thursday rejected a deal with the International Criminal Court to hand over two indicted officials in exchange for dropping the court's arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo sought an arrest warrant for Bashir on Monday on suspicion of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, a move that some powers fear could derail the fragile Darfur peace process. "There will be no direct cooperation with the International Criminal Court and no sending any Sudanese citizens to The Hague," presidential adviser Mustafa Osman Ismail told a forum on Thursday. The decision to refer Darfur to the ICC came from the U.N. Security Council so any proposal to resolve the crisis should also come from there, he said. ICC judges are expected to decided in October or November whether to issue a warrant for Bashir's arrest. Ocampo asked the ICC for the warrant, accusing Bashir of a campaign of genocide in which 35,000 people were killed outright, at least 100,000 more died a "slow death" and 2.5 million were forced to flee their homes in Sudan's western Darfur region. Sudan has asked Russia, China and members of the Arab League and the African Union to help it pursue a Security Council resolution suspending a warrant for Bashir for 12 months. |
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