US will not oppose Sudan’s Bashir for chairman of African Union

Jan 20, 2007 (WASHINGTON) — The United States declined on Friday to oppose the candidacy of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to become chairman of African Union despite his government’s alleged role perpetrating violence in Sudan’s Darfur region.

It is up to AU members to decide on a new chairman, deputy spokesman
Tom Casey said.

Bashir was to have become chairman a year ago but, under a compromise, he withdrew his candidacy after being assured that the job would be his in 2007.

An AU summit meeting will be held in Ethiopia on Jan. 29-30 to decide
on a replacement for the current chairman, Republic of Congo President
Denis Sassou-Nguesso. The Darfur situation will be high on the summit
agenda.

The United States has charged Bashir’s government with genocidal
behavior in Darfur. The administration opposed Bashir’s candidacy a
year ago on grounds that it was a contradiction for a Sudanese to be
AU president at a time when AU peacekeepers were in Sudan to protect
Darfur’s citizens from their own government. The peacekeepers remain
in Darfur.

In defending the hands-off position of the U.S. in the upcoming
election, Casey said, “The AU is an organization of sovereign states,
just like the European Union, just like others. It’s for them to make
these decisions.”

He added: “I think our views on the situation in Sudan and on what the
issues are that we have with the government of Sudan are abundantly
clear.”

He noted that other African leaders are preparing to contest al-Bashir
for the chairmanship.

(AP)