Sudan ruling party sells out own brand goods to UN General Assembly
By Mahmoud A. Suleiman
September 29, 2008 — The National Congress Party (NCP) regime’s Vice president Ali Osman Mohamed Taha tried to bamboozle the World at the 63rd United Nations (UN) General Assembly by saying boastfully that the government of Sudan GOS) is in “complete commitment to achieving a peaceful and political settlement to the Darfur issue” while Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and their proxy militias are stepping up attacks on civilians and villages of the region. He justifies the massacres committed by his forces at Kalma and Zamzam Camps for Darfuri IDPs in South and North Darfur States respectively, to “restore law and order to rebel enclaves in the western Darfur region! Moreover, Ali Osman Taha was reported, expectedly, to have dismissed a possible war crimes indictment of Omer al-Bashir and considered it as a nefarious plan that is intended to derail the fragile Darfur peace process. In reality, there is no peace to keep in either Darfur or the entire Sudan. Ali Osman Taha, in his UN speech, alleged that the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno-Ocampo requesting the pre-trial Chamber judges of the Court to issue an arrest warrant of Omer Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir for his criminal responsibility in relation to the filed 10 charges: three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of murder, that “The arrest warrant request targeting the country’s leader, symbol of its sovereignty and dignity, is a failed attempt at political and moral assassination and derailing the peace process”. He continues to say that the move of the Prosecutor of the ICC has a “secret agenda that has nothing to do with justice and achieving peace and stability in Darfur.”The NCP Vice President has jumped on the regime’s conspiracy theory bandwagon fallacy. Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, Vice-President of the Republic tried to untie the ropes created by the International Criminal Court proceedings from the neck of government of Sudan, but failed.
Many cynical observers and analysts described the speech Ali Osman Taha delivered at the UN Assembly as full of false and insincere display of emotion amounting to weeping “Crocodile tears!”Everybody knows that Ali Osman Taha does belong to the NCP camp that waiting eagerly for the day when Omer al-Bashir is no longer on the presidential seat in General Gordon’s Palace in Khartoum. An internal Power struggle among the National Congress Party, al-Mutamar al-Wattani (NCP) clique has been rife lately, insiders and analysts intimated. Omer al-Bashir has been president and controlled the government through an absolute power since he led the military coup d’état on 30 June 1989 and adamantly remain unwilling to cede power. A grueling battle for power is ahead if the ICC Prosecutor’s indictment of the autocratic Field Marshal Omer Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir for the abhorrent crimes and atrocities that he committed against people of Sudan in Darfur goes through. Some genocidaire, racist and fascist elements like Ali Osman Taha and others of that ilk are waiting anxiously and preparing for a make or break to play a cat and mouse game on checking up on each other! The elements in the National Islamic Front (NIF/NCP) pretend to be in close association, but in reality they’re not! Sudan and a number of regional organizations including the African Union (AU), Arab League, Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) condemned the arrest warrant request by the Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo and called on the UN Security Council (UNSC) to defer al-Bashir’s indictment by using the Article 16. It has been learned from Sudan Tribune that GOS is seeking the support of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP Group)t on the issue of deferring the ICC indictment of al-Bashir. It is evident that the NCP regime has lost its mind over the matter, got confused and did not know what to do to get out of the quagmire that is unenviable! The situation seems very similar to that in which the offender saying, “I am hereby”! The assailants have been caught red-handed in the middle of their acts.
As early as 2004 a US Congressional report accused Ali Osman Mohammad Taha, the Vice-President, of being in charge of the anti-rebel offensive in Darfur when many of the crimes were committed. Others named at the time were Lieutenant-General Naif Ali Nafie and Air Force Major-General Abdullah Ali Safi el-Din el-Nur whereas Musa Hilal Musa, a senior tribal leader, was named by the US State Department as a commander of the infamous notorious Janjaweed militia, which is accused of some of the worst atrocities committed against civilians in Darfur. However, in another report that U.N. officials and diplomats said they expect lesser charges of helping orchestrate genocide and participating in crimes against humanity to be brought against the Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Human Rights Watch asserted that Vice-President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha has a personal link to Musa Hilal, and it was through his personal authority that Hilal was released from prison in 2003, and elevated to be the coordinator of the Janjaweed militias. Frequent allegations have been made that Vice-President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha as the key government policymaker where Darfur is concerned—and that he was one of the primary instigators of the policy of militia recruitment and use. Many community leaders and Darfurian elite told Human Rights Watch that nomadic militia members say they will answer only to Musa Hilal or Vice-President Taha. A tribal Umda was quoted as said, “After June 2003, the government help for Musa Hilal was very open, and through Ali Osman Taha. The Arabs say, ‘we don’t know anyone in Sudan [recognize any authority], except if it comes through Ali Osman or Musa Hilal.’ They say “there is a direct link between Musa Hilal and Ali Osman Taha – al-Tajammu al-Arabi (The Arab Gathering)”. It seems evident that Vice-President Ali Osman Taha has been implicated in the crimes committed by the NIF/NCP regime in Darfur and that he bears some of the responsibility.
Human Rights Watch identified the following as the people most responsible for international crimes committed in Darfur in its report “Entrenching Impunity”; but additional individuals not named in this report should also be investigated and prosecuted for crimes in Darfur:
National Sudanese Officials:
– President Omar El Bashir
– Second Vice-President Ali Osman Taha: Former first vice-president until late 2005
– Maj. Gen. Abduraheem Mohammed Hussein: Former minister of the interior and representative of the president for Darfur, 2003-2004; now minister of defense
– Maj. Gen. Bakri Hassan Salih: Former minister of defense; now minister for presidential affairs
– Abbas Arabi: Chief of staff of the Sudanese armed forces
– Major Gen. Salah Abdallah Gosh: Director of security and military intelligence
– Ahmed Haroun: Former state minister of the interior, responsible for Darfur portfolio within the Ministry of the Interior; now state minister for humanitarian affairs
Current or former regional officials:
The individuals listed below are included because, as described in the text of the report, they are or were the senior government officials in their districts or states when crimes amounting to war crimes or crimes against humanity were committed by government forces in Darfur.
– Al Tayeb Abdullah Torshain: Former commissioner of Mukjar, 2003-2005
– Al Haj Atta al-Mannan Idris: Governor of South Darfur, mid-2004 to 2006
– Jaafer Abdel el Hakh: Commissioner of Garsila until April 2004; now governor of West Darfur
– Maj. Gen. Adam Hamid Musa: Governor of South Darfur, 2003 to mid-2004
– Maj. Gen. Abdallah Safi el Nour: Retired air force pilot and former governor of North Darfur, 2000-2001; and national minister in Khartoum 2003-2004
Military commanders:
– Brig.-Gen. Ahmed al-Hajir Mohammed: Commander of the 16th Infantry Division forces used in the attacks on the villages of Marla, Ishma, and Labado in December 2004
– Maj. Gen. Al Hadi Adam Hamid: Chief of “border guards”; key liaison to Janjaweed militias
– Lt. Col. Abdul Wahid Said Ali Said: Commander of the 2nd Border Intelligence Brigade based in Misteriya, which supports military operations in and around Kebkabiya
– Maj. Gaddal Fadlallah: Commander in Kutum
Militia leaders:
– “Abu Ashreen”: This is the nickname or nom de guerre of Abdullah Saleh Sabeel, who leads a militia based in Kebkabiya
– Sheikh Musa Hilal: key militia recruiter and coordinator
– “Ali Kosheib”: This is the nickname or nom de guerre of Ali Mohammed Ali. He was one of the key leaders of the attacks on villages around Mukjar, Bindisi, and Garsila in 2003-2004. Several eyewitnesses recognized him as one of the commanders of the operations in March 2004, in which several hundred men were executed around Deleig, Garsila, and Mukjar
– Mustapha Abu Nuba: Tribal leader of a Rezeigat sub-clan in South Darfur
– Nazir al-Tijani Abdel Gadir: Tribal leader of the Misseriya militia based in Niteiga, South Darfur
– Mohammed Hamdan: Rezeigat militia leader allegedly involved in Adwah attack and looting in November 2004
Observers say that the elements of the National Islamic Front (NIF) regime have now been trapped by the devilish evil deeds they had committed against the unarmed civilians of Darfur, six-years on.
The government of al-Bashir has been incapable of meeting the most elementary functions of governance since he assumed power on 30th June 1989 through a military coup d’état. Under the NIF/NCP Sudan tops ‘failed states index’ in 2006 by the criteria of the existence of rampant corruption and criminality in the state apparatus, massive human rights violations, rigged elections, predatory elites with protracted monopoly on power, an absence of the rule of law, severe ethnic divisions and sectarianism, deep economic crises, massive movement of refugees and internally displaced peoples caused by political persecution, progressive deterioration of public services, intervention of other states or external actors, chronic and sustained human flight among other factors. Ali Osman Taha wants to come wave of the war crime charges against the Government of Sudan, “like hair from dough”, but he is simply crying for the moon!
Dr. Mahmoud A. Suleiman is the Deputy Chairman of the General Congress for Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). He can be reached at [email protected]