South Sudan, Beshir’s former foes, excited by ICC move

July 15, 2008 (JUBA) — At restaurants, pubs and on the streets of southern Sudan, the only buzz of excitement is the move from the world court prosecutor to demand President Omar al-Beshir be arrested for war crimes.

Although Beshir’s government signed a 2005 peace treaty with southern rebels, ending 21 years of civil war and setting Sudan on the path to democratic reform, for many in the south the president remains a hate figure.

“Nobody is above the law,” said Jimmy Kegen, who identified himself as a political analyst.

“Beshir should face the consequences of his lawless actions even during the southern Sudan civil war,” he said. “He is in charge of the displacement and the deaths that occurred.”

A formal indictment of Beshir — the first sitting head of state to be named by the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor — will send a strong signal to all African leaders, said Joseph Onywala, a radio manager.

The under-developed south suffered the brunt of Sudan’s devastating civil war, which continued for another 16 years after Beshir seized power in an Islamist-backed coup that toppled the elected government in Khartoum in 1989.

An estimated two million people died in the war and another six million were displaced. Implementation of the 2005 peace agreement has been riddled with delays, many of which southerners blame on Beshir and his allies in Khartoum.

But the excitement on the streets of Juba, the capital of the south where the autonomous regional government is based, is at odds with a more cautious approach adopted by senior southern politicians, in public at least.

“Our only fear is that, given what is happening in Khartoum, there is already a lot of tension,” says Peter Bashir Bandi, chairman of southern Sudan’s parliamentary committee on communications.

ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said on Monday that Beshir “personally instructed” his forces to annihilate three non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur, accusing him of murder, torture, rape and pillaging.

He has requested a warrant on 10 counts, three of them for genocide, in what would be the first such move by the court against a sitting head of state.

ICC judges will examine the application to decide whether there are sufficient grounds for issuing a warrant, a process which could take months.

“I hope the matter is handled well so that it will not affect the peace process,” said Bandi.

In a statement released late on Monday, the southern former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, appeared taken aback by the speed of events.

“This has understandably created a serious situation that could threaten peace and stability in the Sudan,” the SPLM said.

The former rebels, who share power with Beshir in Khartoum under the arrangements drawn up under the 2005 peace agreement, say the way out is for the president’s National Congress to cooperate with the ICC.

“We believe that the solution to the crisis is for the government of national unity to forge an understanding with the international community and to cooperate with the ICC on the legal process,” said the statement.

The south says the conflict in Darfur is born out of the same political, economic and cultural marginalisation of remote and impoverished regions that lay at the heart of their own war with Khartoum.

The SPLM has called on Beshir’s government to develop within a week, a roadmap to resolve the Darfur conflict, in consultation with political parties and civic groups.

(AFP)