East Africa backs Bashir as AU head – Sudanese official

Jan 19, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan said on Thursday it had won the unanimous backing of 12 east African nations for its president to head the African Union, a move which rights groups said could undermine the body’s credibility.

Sudan is hosting the AU summit and traditionally the host nation takes over the helm of the 53-member alliance. But critics say that could undermine AU-mediated peace talks to end violence in Sudan’s western Darfur region, which Washington calls genocide.

“The east African foreign ministers have decided late tonight to unanimously support Sudan’s nomination of President Omar (Hassan) al-Bashir as chairman of the African Union,” Sudan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Jamal Ibrahim told Reuters.

An AU official could not immediately confirm the information.

The International Criminal Court is investigating charges of war crimes in Sudan. The Janjaweed militia has rampaged through Darfur looting and killing, allegedly with government backing.

Rights groups say the AU’s credibility as mediator in the Darfur conflict, which is policed by thousands of AU troops, would be undermined if Bashir became chairman of the pan-African organisation.

Sudan’s Information Minister al-Zahawi Ibrahim Malik said the chairmanship would be decided by African leaders on Monday, the first day of the summit in Khartoum, which has been spruced up to prepare for the African visitors. No other candidate for the post has emerged.

But U.N. envoy for Sudan Jan Pronk said at a news conference in The Hague he thought it unlikely a new chairman would be appointed.

“At the moment, the expectation is that President (Olusegun) Obasanjo of Nigeria will be asked to continue a bit longer, and that would be wise,” he said.

Obasanjo, the chairman for the past two years, has spearheaded the AU mission in Darfur, the body’s first major foray into peacekeeping. He has not said whether he backs Bashir’s nomination.

The chairmanship has traditionally been handed to the AU summit host, but there is no formal rule.

“The venue of the conference and the chairmanship are not connected. It is open,” Congo Republic’s Foreign Minister Rodolphe Adada told Reuters in Khartoum.

CHAD OBJECTION

Sudan’s neighbour, Chad, which accuses Sudan of backing rebels seeking to overthrow President Idriss Deby, is the only African nation which has openly campaigned against Khartoum.

Mainly Muslim Sudan may have a bloc of support from Muslim states in North Africa but diplomats say some sub-Saharan African countries want an alternative. Diplomats disagree about whether South African President Thabo Mbeki would back Bashir.

The AU has a 7,000-strong mission, known as AMIS, that monitors a shaky ceasefire in Darfur between the government and rebels, who launched a revolt in 2003 complaining of neglect.

“The credibility of AMIS will be undermined among Darfuris. Our credibility is at stake,” said an AU official involved in peacekeeping who asked not to be named.

Rebels have said they will walk out of AU-sponsored peace talks in Nigeria, which currently holds the rotating AU chair, if Khartoum takes the lead. Khartoum says Nigeria will still host any peace talks if it becomes chairman.

“It (a Sudan chairmanship) would be bad for the people of Darfur. It would be bad for Africa to reward with the presidency someone alleged to have committed crimes,” said Reed Brody, a lawyer for U.S.-based Human Rights Watch.

Salih Mahmoud Osman, an opposition politician from Darfur said: “The Sudanese government is not qualified to presume the presidency of the African Union …. (because) the government is deeply involved in the atrocities that happened in Darfur.”

(Reuters)