AU set for diplomatic deadlock over Sudan chair
Jan 25, 2007 (ADDIS ABABA) — A diplomatic deadlock is expected at a meeting of African leaders in Ethiopia over whether Sudan, accused of war crimes in its Darfur region, will become the African Union chair as promised a year ago.
In the hope Darfur’s crisis would be over, a compromise was struck that would give Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir the chair in 2007.
But rights groups and AU diplomats say little has changed in Darfur in a year.
“African states should reject Sudan’s bid to become the chair of the African Union on the grounds that Khartoum’s attacks on civilians, support for militias and impunity for war crimes in Darfur remain unchanged,” said New York-based Human Rights Watch in a statement.
“Awarding Sudan the chairmanship would not only reward the sponsors of crimes against humanity in Darfur, it would irreparably discredit the AU,” said Peter Takirambudde, the rights group’s Africa director.
Experts estimate 200,000 have been killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes in four years of fighting in Darfur, violence Washington calls genocide.
PEACE DEAL
Khartoum denies genocide and says Western media exaggerate the conflict. Officials say a May 2006 peace deal, signed by only one of three negotiating rebel factions, has improved security.
Sudan’s state media say Khartoum is preparing to take over the AU chairmanship in Addis Ababa when the summit opens on Jan. 29.
“This question has been discussed last year and they have taken a decision,” said Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol. But he said the decision would be made by the leaders at the summit.
Sudan’s position that security has improved in Darfur is not shared by others.
“Conditions in Darfur have deteriorated very badly over the past year, despite the signing of the poorly conceived peace agreement,” said Eric Reeves, a U.S. academic and Darfur expert.
One senior source in the AU who declined to be named said: “The same conditions that applied to the decision last year still apply this year. But it will be difficult to find a solution to this.”
Last year the summit decided the chairmanship would rotate between regions and that in 2007, it would be the turn of east Africa, of which Sudan is a member. But some diplomats said the promise that Bashir would take the chairmanship was not binding.
“This was a declaration, not a decision,” said a senior member of the Chadian delegation. “The Darfur issue is still not resolved, on the contrary it has spread and affects Chad and the Central African Republic.”
Chadian-Sudanese relations are strained as the two countries accuse each other of supporting rebels trying to topple their governments.
While no other candidate has been announced as yet, diplomats said Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete may be asked to represent east Africa as an alternative to Bashir.
Last year, the decision took most of the two-day summit to resolve and diplomats said they expect the same this time.
(Reuters)