African leaders should not attend AU summit

Dec 30, 2005 — The Executive Council of South Sudan Democratic Forum in Sudan and North
America met to discuss the decision of African Union (AU) to hold a Summit
in Khartoum from Jan, 16-25, 2005.

As a member of Government of National Unity (GONU), the Democratic Forum
Party is deeply troubled by the decision of AU to hold a Summit in Sudan.
The idea of hosting the Summit is not approved by all the parties which
formed the GONU. It came from National Congress Party (NCP), the dominant
party, without consultation with other members of GONU.

There are legitimate reasons why the Summit should not be held in Sudan. The
Democratic Forum Party’s Executive Council has objections as follows:

Firstly, the Sudan government, which is currently dominated by NCP, refuses
in principle to extradite fifty one NCP officials to International Criminal
Court at the Hague. It is almost two years when the United Nations passed a
resolution demanding Sudan to fulfill its international law obligations by
extraditing officials who committed crimes against humanity in Darfur.

Secondly, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights requires all the
member states of the AU to condemn any member of the organization which is
engaged in violating human rights of its own population. In international
law, those AU members that will attend the Summit are violating the Charter
by disregarding the gross human rights abuses in Darfur.

Thirdly, the Summit will destroy the image of AU internationally. Attending
Summit in Khartoum is like holding a European Summit in Berlin after the
massacre of six million Jews in Europe. The decision of the AU demonstrates
to the whole world that Black African leaders are not morally responsible to
alleviate the suffering of their own citizens.

Fourthly, the government of National Congress Party has a policy of
exporting genocide to neighboring Black African countries that give shelter
to the remaining Darfuris. The Sudan Armed Force is responsible for
instigating rebellion in Chad by supplying the rebels with lethal weapons
because Chad is a safe haven for Darfuris. As a member of GONU, the
Democratic Forum Party has a concrete evidence from Sudan Security Service
that the NCP is controlling rebels that are committing human rights abuses
in Chad.
Fifthly, the National Congress Party is dragging its feet from
implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed between the North
and the South. Currently, South Sudan is getting 10% of wealth sharing
stipulated in the CPA. There is a war of words between the NCP and GOSS that
will culminate into a renewed civil war in the near future.

Due to the above reasons, the Democratic Forum is appealing to AU to move
the Summit to another country which is not accused of committing genocide
against its own population. The Black African members of AU should be the
ones objecting the decision of holding the Summit in a country whose
government is ethnically cleansing black race.

The intellectual calibers of African leaders will now be questioned because
they are going to elect President Omer el-Bashir as the Chairman of the AU
despite his personal involvement in Darfur genocide. The role of Bashir in
coordinating genocide in Darfur is self-evident. His nomination as the
chair of the AU is an indirect encouragement of the on-going genocide
against the Black Africans in Darfur. It is like electing Adolf Hitler as
the president of EU after the Second World War. African leaders such as
Thabo Mbeki will be sharing Khartoum Hilton Hotel with Musa Hilal, the
leader of Janjaweed Militia. Mr. Hilal will be in Khartoum in January for
the honey moon.

If the reason is that Black African leaders want to attend the Summit to
show their support to the CPA, the problem is that the agreement is now in
the freezer of the National Congress. South Sudan parties that have platform
of championing the right to self-determination are being excluded from
government institutions. South Sudanese public servants who believe in the
right to self-determination are excommunicated from the government
departments in Khartoum. The NCP is buying more weapons than the pre-CPA
period. Intelligent reports indicate that the National Islamic Front, the
base of the NCP, is preparing for war against the South.

The Democratic Forum appeals to European Union and the United States to stop
aid to AU if the Summit is held in Khartoum. The African leaders should not
blame the West for not intervening to stop genocide in Darfur while they are
encouraging the NCP to kill more black people in the region via holding the
Summit in Sudan.

– G. Buay Reath
Chairman of South Sudan Democratic Forum-Canada
– Ottawa, Ontario
– Tel. (613)260-9307
– Email. [email protected]