Sudanese president makes first public threat to expel peacekeepers

August 21, 2008 (ANKARA) – The Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir said that he will ask the United Nations – African Union forces in Darfur (UNAMID) to leave the country if the International Criminal Court (ICC) issues an arrest warrant for him.

Al-Bashir told the Dubai based Al-Arabiya TV in an interview to be aired on Friday that he will not allow UNAMID to stay if the Judges approve the ICC’s prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo charges he filed against the Sudanese head of state in mid-July.

However he promised not to launch any military attack against these forces.

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.

Al-Bashir is the most senior Sudanese official threatening retaliation against peacekeepers since the ICC indictment.

Last month the Sudanese presidential advisor Bona Malwal said that his government “can’t be responsible for the well-being of foreign forces in Darfur”.

“After that we may ask them to withdraw from our territory” Malwal said.

But Sudanese officials afterwards denied any such intentions should the ICC issue the arrest warrant.

The Sudanese president also said that he is willing to fight a war if the country’s sovereignty is threatened stressing that he has no intention of resigning.

But the head of UNAMID peacekeeping mission Rodolphe Adada downplayed Al-Bashir’s statements on ousting his forces.

“Sudan has been working to speed up the deployment of the UN-AU force, and that the government’s attitude has been one of «working with us and helping us” Adada told the Associated Press.

This is not the first time Al-Bashir talks about expelling peacekeepers in the war ravaged region. He issued a formal order in 2006 asking AU forces to leave Darfur after the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1706 authorizing 26,000 UN peacekeepers against Khartoum’s will.

But the Sudanese government backed down and resolution 1706 was eventually replaced with another one a year later tailored to address Khartoum’s concerns.

Al-Bashir also told Al-Arabiya that he has no fear travelling abroad and used his trip to Turkey as an example.

“We have broad relations, and when there is a need for an external visit, we will make it, God willing” he said.

The Sudanese president paid an official visit to Ankara this week where he took part in the Turkish-African summit along with other leaders. It was his first flight abroad since the ICC indictment.

Even if an arrest warrant is issued, Turkey has no obligation to apprehend the Sudanese head of state since they are not members of The Hague based court.

“I received an invitation from the Turkish government. There is a respectable government in Turkey. Turkey is also not a member of the ICC. Therefore, there was no reason to make me hesitate to come to Turkey” Al-Bashir told Al-Arabiya.

However Al-Bashir hinted in another interview with Reuters that he may only visit countries which are not members of the ICC.

“We are not concerned about traveling, ourselves, we have good relations with a number of countries that do not have relations with the ICC” he said.

But Ayman Abdel-Aziz Salaama, professor of International Criminal law at Cairo University told Inter Press Service earlier this month that even travel by the Sudanese president to non-state parties may prove difficult.

“Countries that have signed but whose parliaments haven’t ratified the convention, like Egypt and most other Arab countries, meanwhile, would have a moral obligation not to receive him or offer him refuge” he said.

Sudan has not ratified the Rome Statute, but the UNSC triggered the provisions under the Statute that enables it to refer situations in non-State parties to the world court if it deems that it is a threat to international peace and security.

(ST)