UNSC to visit Sudan next week but will not meet with Bashir: diplomats
September 28, 2010 (WASHINGTON) – The 15-member United Nations Security Council (UNSC) reached an agreement over a trip to Sudan that was initially stalled over the issue of whether they should meet with president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for allegedly committing war crimes and genocide in Darfur.
“Our position is clear, if they don’t meet with the president we will not allow them to visit,” Undersecretary of foreign affairs Rahmatalla Mohamed Osman told the independent Al-Sahafa newspaper last week.
But a UNSC diplomat suggested to Reuters that Sudan backed down from its demand.
“The Security Council has not requested a meeting with Bashir nor has the government of Sudan proposed one,” said the unidentified diplomat.
Another envoy said that Bashir, may be out of the country when the council arrives in Khartoum next week. He did not say where the Sudanese president will be headed.
The UNSC referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC at the recommendation of a UN commission of inquiry headed by former President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Italian Antonio Cassese.
Among those expected to travel to Sudan are U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, French Ambassador Gerard Araud and British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, envoys said.
The ruling National Congress Party (NCP) maintains a very hostile attitude towards Rice who is a long-standing proponent of tougher action by Washington against Khartoum including military action.
The council trip will begin in Kampala, Uganda and move to Juba, the capital of semi-autonomous south Sudan. The diplomats then plan to visit Sudan’s conflict-ravaged western Darfur region and end up in the capital Khartoum.
“We want to encourage the north and south to do everything in their power to hold the January 9 referendums on time and to ensure that there is a peaceful transition afterwards if the south chooses secession,” a council diplomat told Reuters.
“We also want to see the situation on the ground in Darfur, which has been worrying” the diplomat added.
Next year the people of South Sudan will vote on whether they want to split Africa’s largest country or remain in a united Sudan. The referendum due in January was a key provision of the 2005 peace agreement between north and south Sudan that ended two decades of civil war, during which about two million people were killed.
The south is determined to keep the January 9 deadline set out in the peace deal, but critics warn that time is running short to ensure a credible vote.
Many diplomats fear the south could declare independence unilaterally if the vote is delayed, potentially leading to renewed civil war.
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Gatwech
UNSC to visit Sudan next week but will not meet with Bashir: diplomats
Of course the South will rightly declare unilateral independence on 9th January if Bashir’s NCP obstructs its conduct using the chair of South Sudan Referendum Commission to tactically delay the conduct of the referendum on so-called technical ground when it is in fact deliberately on political ground.
I commend the UN Security Council’s decision to visit Sudan and meet the South Sudan leadership and its people.
Avoid Bashir for good and don’t meet him. Let him evacuate Sudan and move to another country during the visit and only come back after the Security Council’s visit.
Bashir is playing with fire by choosing to reinvite war. He may end up in the hands of the ICC, inshallah!
Young Nation
UNSC to visit Sudan next week but will not meet with Bashir: diplomats
The NorthSudanese government officals or NCP members should genuinely realize that they can not afford to be political problem with both domestic and international institutions.
Domestically, they are in problem with various political organizations such as SPLM, Darfur groups and not to mention other less radical Northern political parties like Sadiq’s Ummah and Marghanis’s DUP. Internationally, the NCP officials are in trouble with International Criminal Court, United Nations Security Council, European Union and numerous other NGOs. The question is: how could they cop with all these numerous internal and external pressures?
Young Nation is a student of International Relations/Political Science at The University of Queensland.
Sudan virus
UNSC to visit Sudan next week but will not meet with Bashir: diplomats
United Nation Security Council to visit Sudan.
Bashiir will be out of the country during the visit.