“I feel safe in my country” says Sudan president, reveals upcoming Venezuela visit

March 20, 2010 (WASHINGTON) — The Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir dismissed any negative impact of the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for him telling a German magazine that it has boosted his popularity ahead of the April general elections in which he is running against eleven other candidates.

In an interview with Der Spiegel released on Saturday Bashir rejected the notion that he risks apprehension in 110 countries that are signatories to the Rome Statute which is the founding treaty of the ICC.

“The fact that a hundred or more countries have a [negative] position of Sudan is simply not true. Many African States call for [scrapping] the decision of the International Criminal Court…….some countries are even threatening to withdraw from the tribunal,” the Sudanese president said.

Last year, African Union heads of state voted not to cooperate with the Hague-based court in its indictment of Bashir. However, several countries later dissented from this decision.

ICC prosecutors say Bashir “masterminded and implemented” a plan to destroy three ethnic groups, the Fur, Masaalit, and Zaghawa, using a campaign of murder, rape, and deportation. It was the first warrant ever issued by the ICC for a sitting head of state.

Last month, ICC appeals judges ordered pre-trial chamber to decide anew whether to add genocide to the president’s charge sheet, reversing an earlier ruling that dismissed the prosecution’s genocide case.

Asked whether he feels countries particularly ICC members are distancing themselves from him such as South Africa, Bashir said that no such situation exist except with Western countries.

“With South Africa we are maintaining excellent relations, the vice president has visited us, and we have agreed to that after our elections in April President [Jacob Zuma] will visit. From Venezuela, I have personally receive an invitation, which I will also fulfill after the elections” Bashir said.

“Yes, there are problems, especially with European states. The bewildering position is that of the United States, on the execution of warrants of the International Criminal Court even though they do not recognize it” he added.

The Sudanese head of state managed to maintain ability to travel regionally to countries such as Ethiopia, Egypt, Eretria, Libya and going as far as Zimbabwe and Mauritania, none of which are ICC members.

But Bashir has also turned down several invitations over the past year to attend events in Uganda, Nigeria, Venezuela, Denmark, Turkey, South Africa, Kenya and US.

The South African government and president Zuma have made it clear that Bashir will face arrest should he set foot in their territory. This position has kept the Sudanese head of state away for Zuma’s inauguration last year and will likely make him avoid the 2010 world Cup opening ceremony held next June in South Africa.

If Bashir ends up visiting Venezuela it will be the first time a Rome Statute signatory breaks with its obligation under the treaty. Bashir dispatched his 2nd Vice president Ali Osman last September to attend the Africa-South America summit in Venezuela on his behalf.

It was later revealed that the Brazilian government and the Supreme court were preparing for the possibility of Bashir’s plane passing through its airspace on its way to Venezuela and having to intercept it and take him into custody.

The Sudanese president also stressed that he is not the least worried about the arrest warrant and its ramifications domestically.

“I feel completely safe in my country. On the contrary the International Criminal Court has rendered me a service which I never would have dreamt. My popularity has increased in my country despite expectations, by this warrant” he said.

Today, Edward Lino, the Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) candidate to be governor of Khartoum and its veteran head of intelligence, told Reuters that Bashir should surrender to the ICC to face war crimes charge.

The SPLM is the former southern rebel movement who signed a 2005 peace deal with President Bashir and joined him in coalition.

“Bashir has no option but to respond to what the (ICC) is putting up. He has to go. If he does not go up he will be taken there,” Edward Lino said.

“There are many dignitaries who were taken and he is not an exception. For the good of the country Bashir should take leave and then go to [The] Hague,” he said.

SPLM presidential candidate Yasir Arman today also challenged Bashir to stand down from the presidential poll to encourage southerners to vote for unity in the 2011 referendum.

“We call the NCP for a new partnership where Bashir would step down from the candidacy and there would be a national consensus coalition,” Arman told reporters in Khartoum.

Separately, the head of the Islamic Wasat party in Sudan Yusuf Koda echoed Arman’s call saying Bashir resignation will bring great benefits to Sudan including avoiding international isolation and proposed that Bashir should be tried before hybrid courts.

RESPONSIBILITY FOR DARFUR CRIMES

Asked about whether he acknowledged personal responsibility for war crimes in Darfur, Bashir said that his job is to make sure his armed forces act within the law though he admitted that abuses has occurred which he described as “normal” in the context of fighting an insurgency.

“Of course, there have been crimes, even terrible crimes even but this is everywhere in the world where armed gangs directing their mischief and stand against the government. It is the duty of our armed forces…..everything claimed abroad about the Janjaweed militias and their alleged assaults, is pursued for the purpose for twisting the facts” he said.

“Our forces are always moving within the law. Each members of the army and the state apparatus, will be held accountable. One time a policeman took a gang of armed men and shot the leader, but he was sentenced to death. Also a member of the security forces hit a citizen in Darfur, he stood before court and was executed…… It is one of my tasks to worry about that the laws being met.” Bashir added.

The conflict in Darfur flared in 2003 when rebel groups took up arms against Sudan’s government, accusing Khartoum of neglecting the mostly desert region.

The government has been widely accused of arming the “Janjaweed” – militia forces drawn mainly from the nomadic Arab tribes of the region and blamed for much of the killing over the past seven years.

In a rare interview with Reuters in 2004, the then Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) Director and now presidential adviser Salah Gosh said the government had armed tribes against Darfur’s rebels. He said human rights violations had taken place but promised to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Despite several announcements by Khartoum since 2004 of establishing court to bring war crime suspects to justice nothing has emerged in term of trials or prosecutions and right groups accused the Sudanese government of intentionally blocking the process.

Last February Tanzanian judge Mohamed Chande Othman who is also the UN appointed human rights expert on Sudan criticized the government for failing to charge or try anyone in connection with Darfur abuses.

Sudan appointed special prosecutor Nimr Mohamed in 2008 hoping his trials would stall the ICC investigations.

“He [Nimr Mohamed] informed me that investigations are continuing and that no one has been charged and tried as yet,” Othman told reporters.

An African Union (AU) panel led by former South African president Thabo Mbeki has called for a “hybrid Criminal Court which shall exercise original and appellate jurisdiction over individuals who appear to bear particular responsibility for the gravest crimes committed during the conflict in Darfur, and to be constituted by judges of Sudanese and other nationalities”.

The commission concluded that the Sudanese judiciary does not enjoy the confidence of the victims and urged major overhaul of the laws relating to immunities, witness protection and sexual violence.

However, Khartoum appeared to have rejected the proposal saying it is an infringement on its sovereignty. It is not clear yet what the progress is on the initiative.

SUDAN RELATIONS WITH U.S.

On his ties with the US, Bashir accused lobby groups of preventing a normalization of relations emphasizing that Washington, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) realize that reports in the media about Sudan “are not true”.

The Sudanese president hailed the role played by the US special envoy to Sudan Scott Gration who has been pushing for easing sanctions on Sudan and moving toward normal relation with the East African nation.

“Our dialogue with the United States runs through the U.S. special envoy Scott Gration. We believe that this former General is a reasonable, realistic man” he said.

Gration has been prohibited from meeting with Bashir in line with the Sudan policy paper released by the US administration last year.

US said its goals are be to end war crimes and other violence in Darfur, ensure implementation of a fraying 2005 peace deal between the Khartoum government and former southern rebels, and prevent Sudan from becoming a haven for international terror groups.

Officials said the US approach would balance incentives and pressures on Sudan — a growing African oil producer — in hopes of achieving political stability ahead of national elections next year and a 2011 referendum on secession in the south.

So far the US maintained its decade long sanctions on the growing African oil producer.

Bashir noted that the US oil companies left the country “thinking no one will be able to take their place”.

“The Americans had kept 70%of the oil revenues for themselves,” Al-Bashir said. “Today the (Sudanese) government gets 70 per cent.” He added that the Chinese provided training and mostly employed Sudanese engineers.

Asian national oil companies are prospering in Africa’s largest country but Western investment has been deterred by US sanctions and political instability surrounding the referendum.

Sudan produced 480,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil in 2008 and has proven oil reserves of 6.7 billion barrels. More than 80 percent of Sudan’s known remaining oil reserves are located in the south of the country, but most infrastructure including pipelines and refineries are in the north.

SOUTH SUDAN 2011 REFERENDUM

The Sudanese president reiterated his position that he would recognize a decision by the Southerners to secede in the 2011 self determination referenda and denied that this stance was due to international pressure.

Southerners are widely expected to choose independence in the ballot although analysts have up to now warned Bashir’s northern supporters would resist any loss of control over southern oil fields.

“There is no pressure that occurred from outside. Such an important historical event can only be decided by legitimized representatives of the people” he said.

(ST)