Sudan president to skip UN Security Council summit

April 9, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir formally turned down an invitation by UN Security Council (UNSC) to a summit scheduled for April 17th.

The daily Al-Sahafa quoting unidentified Sudanese officials said that Al-Bashir schedule during that time “will not allow him to attend”.

“These invitations are usually preceded by arrangements and tight coordination but there was none. It was sent to him on such a short notice” one official said.

Last week Sudanese ambassador to the United Nations Abdel-Mahmoud Abdel-Haleem told Reuters: “There was an invitation sent to a few countries that have their agendas on the Security Council like Sudan, and our president is invited”.

The invitation was made by South Africa which presides over the UNSC this month. Several Western diplomats said the invitation to Al-Bashir, came as a surprise to them.

Also a visit by Al-Bashir to the US could have triggered 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.

Some information for this report provided by Reuters.

(ST)