Egypt, Uganda agree more time needed for Sudan’s Bashir
July 30, 2008 (KAMPALA) – Egypt and Uganda on Wednesday said Possible charges against Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir should be delayed and he should be given time to improve the security situation in Darfur.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni supported, in a meeting they held today in Kampala, the African Union’s position that Bashir be given time to implement a ceasefire in the western Sudan region of Darfur, Ugandan Minister Omara Atubo said.
Both the African Union and the Arab League have asked the UN Security Council to delay a decision by the International Criminal Court on whether to arrest Bashir.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was in a one day state visit to Uganda to boost ties with the East African country and to discuss charges from the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir.
The Sudanese leader was accused earlier this month by ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo of personally instructing his forces to annihilate three non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur, where a civil war has been raging since 2003.
The visit comes days after the Egyptian president reaffirmed his support to the Sudanese president over war crime and genocide charges by a prosecutor of the (ICC).
ICC prosecutor Louis Moreno-Ocampo announced on July 14that he was seeking an arrest warrant for Bashir over genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur.
Also on the agenda in Kampala was the impact of climate change on the Nile river.
Ninety-five percent of water consumption in Egypt, which gets very little rain, comes from the Nile and Uganda is dependent on one of its tributaries, the White Nile.
All are sourced out of the Great Lakes in eastern Africa.
The Egyptian president offered a donation of 18 million dollars (11.5 million Euros) to the Ugandan government to combat the growth of water hyacinths in the Nile and Lake Victoria.
(ST)