Sudan opposition parties & SPLM urge quick resolution to Darfur crisis

July 14, 2008 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan opposition parties and the southern former rebels said that a political solution to the Darfur crisis is the key to preventing the negative impact of an arrest warrant that may be issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of Sudan president.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo asked pre-trial judges today to issue arrest warrants for Sudan president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir.

Ocampo filed 10 charges: three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of murder. Judges are expected to take months to study the evidence before deciding whether to order Al-Bashir’s arrest.

Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) said in a statement signed by its spokesperson Yasir Arman that the Darfur crisis can be solved through “a comprehensive solution that is negotiated between all parties”.

Arman called on the government to create a roadmap on Darfur “within a week” in consultation with other political parties and NGO’s.

The SPLM official said that the SPLM is ready to utilize its contacts to help diffuse the crisis with the ICC but warned that a solution “can be reached through agreement with the international community and legal cooperation with the ICC”.

The Umma party considered to be the largest Northern opposition party said that a “constitutional collapse” may be created by an arrest warrant against Al-Bashir.

The Umma Party leader Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi told Sudan Tribune that there should be a “balance between justice and interests of peace”.

Al-Mahdi reiterated his support to the implementation of resolution 1593 referring the Darfur situation to the ICC.

But the Umma party chief was quoted by the BBC as saying that “targeting any person in this country, especially its leader, is targeting Sudan, its people, stability, peace and security”.

Last May the Umma party and the ruling National Congress Party (NSCP) signed an agreement known as “National Reconciliation Agreement” which largely outlines a number of fundamental principles that both sides share the same views on.

The agreement has come under fire from other opposition parties who viewed it as a step towards a political alliance between the NCP and the Umma party, something which Al-Mahdi has strongly denied.

The former Prime minister said that the issue of ICC was not included in his agreement with NCP.

“This was not discussed and as such each party retained his position on the matter” he said in an interview with Sudan Tribune last week.

Hassan Al-Turabi leader of the Popular National Congress Party (PCP) Islamist party and a former ally of Al-Bashir told Reuters that a South African model for truth and reconciliation was the way forward.

But in an interview with Al-Jazeera Arabic channel in Qatar Al-Turabi said that he cannot make a ruling in the ICC prosecutor’s charges made against Al-Bashir because “it is something the court has to examine”.

The former law professor also quoted Al-Bashir statements made a few years back when he said that he “does not want a POW or injured [rebels] in Darfur” understood by many that he want them killed.

“As Islamists we do not bestow any immunity on the president”.

The opposition Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) flatly rejected handing Bashir over to the ICC.

The DUP was the only party in Sudan to oppose the ICC since a UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution made the referral in 2005.

A number of observers and political analysts told Sudan Tribune that no party or individual in Sudan is likely to make any public statements supporting Al-Bashir’s extradition fearing government reprisal and negative public sentiments against them.

(ST)