Sudan president may turn down UN Security Council invitation

By Wasil Ali

April 03, 2008 (WASHINGTON) — The Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir may turn down an invitation he received to attend a summit meeting of the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) in New York later this month.

An unidentified Sudanese official speaking to the Al-Sahafa daily in Khartoum said that it is “unlikely” that Al-Bashir will accept the invitation sent out by South Africa who is presiding over the UNSC this month.

Some Western diplomats told Reuters on Wednesday that the invitation came as a surprise to them.

The Sudanese Ambassador to the United Nations Abdel-Mahmood Abdel-Haleem told Reuters on the same day that the “invitation was sent to a few countries that have their agendas on the Security Council like Sudan, and our president is invited.”

“So far the capital is studying this very kind invitation from South Africa,” he said, adding that Khartoum would make a decision in the coming days.

The Al-Sahafa quoted the Sudanese official as saying that the UNSC summit “is in the hands of few big powers with veto rights” and that Al-Bashir “does not want to appear as a defendant answering to issues that were not created by him nor does he share any responsibility in them”.

Many human rights groups and independent observers say that Al-Bashir should be investigated and placed on a UNSC list for his role in the crimes against humanity committed in the war ravaged region of Darfur.

In February 2004 the Sudanese president announced the Darfur rebellion “has been crushed” and that the region is “entirely in government hands”.

About 2.5 million people have fled their homes during the five-year war in Darfur. International experts estimate some 200,000 have died in violence Washington calls genocide but Khartoum denies genocide and puts the death toll at 9,000.

However the Sudanese official did not rule out the possibility of Al-Bashir attending the summit “if it will contribute positively to resolving the Darfur crisis by pressuring the Darfur rebels, resolving the issue of UN-AU peacekeepers funding and the tension with Chad”.

He noted that the invitation is still being reviewed by various government agencies including the foreign ministry.

But a visit by Al-Bashir to the US may trigger outcry by powerful Darfur advocacy groups.

The Sudanese head of state have been accused by these organizations of placing obstacles in front of deploying the 26,000 strong UN-AU peacekeeping forces in Darfur.

Al-Bashir has reluctantly accepted the force last year after a UNSC resolution on the joint UN-African Union force was watered down to gain Khartoum’s agreement.

But the Sudanese president has made statements afterwards placing conditions on the force such as rejecting any Western units as part of the force causing Nordic engineering troops to withdraw their offer.

Professor Eric Reeves an expert on Sudan and an advisor to the “Olympic Dream for Darfur” project described the invitation as an “outrage” and criticized South Africa for initiating it.

“It is entirely consistent with the policies toward Sudan of South African President Thabo Mbeki, who fails to hold Khartoum accountable for its actions in Darfur or its contempt for UN Security Council resolutions and demands” he told Sudan Tribune.

Reeves also warned that this will encourages Khartoum “to believe that the international community will ultimately accept its atrocity crimes in Darfur”.

John Prendergast, Save Darfur Coalition board member and ENOUGH Project co-chair questioned the purpose of the UNSC summit calling it “misguided”.

“Focusing on what to do about AU mission is last year’s question. The real issue is how to reduce violence and get a political settlement. There is no leadership whatsoever on these issues from the Security Council” said Prendergast who also worked at the White House and State Department during the Clinton administration in the 1990’s.

A spokesman for South Africa’s mission to the United Nations said that the leaders of the other 14 council member states had also been invited, along with the leaders of other African countries currently on the agenda of the Security Council. It was not immediately clear whether Bashir and others would address the council in an open session or behind closed doors.

The point of the meeting is to discuss ways of improving cooperation between the Security Council and regional organizations, in this case the Peace and Security Council of the African Union, the South African spokesman said.

Apart from Sudan, African countries on the agenda of the Security Council include Chad, Ivory Coast, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia and Eritrea.

(ST)

Some information for this report provided by Reuters.