French president says clock ticking for Sudan’s Bashir
December 8, 2008 (PARIS) — The French president Nicolas Sarkozy unexpectedly issued a strong warning today saying that Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir faces imminent isolation unless he moves to bring peace to the war ravaged region of Darfur.
“But President Bashir has very little time to decide, his fate is in his hands” the French president added.
In late November Sarkozy met privately with Al-Bashir in the Arab Gulf state of Qatar on the sidelines of the UN development conference telling him that he needs to step up efforts to end the Darfur conflict.
“I told him that the Darfur tragedy has now gone on for too long, that he must take initiatives and change things” the French president told reporters after this meeting.
In mid-July the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor Luis Moreno- Ocampo filed 10 charges: three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of murder and accused Al-Bashir of masterminding a campaign to get rid of the African tribes in Darfur; Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa.
The ICC judges are still reviewing the evidence before making a ruling that could come as early as next month.
The African Union (AU), Arab League, Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) called for invoking Article 16 which allows the UNSC to suspend the ICC prosecutions in any case for a period of 12 months that can be renewed indefinitely.
But Western members of the UNSC such as US and France made it clear that they would veto such a resolution was introduced at this point in time. They stipulated that Sudan must take “concrete steps” to radically change the situation in Darfur before they will approve a suspension.
Since the ICC move in July Khartoum has dispatched numerous envoys all over the world to rally support for its position with little success so far. The Sudanese government argued that it is undertaking serious peace efforts and cooperating with deployment of UN peacekeepers but western countries have so far been unconvinced.
“Either he changes his attitude and the international community can hold discussions with him, or he does not change his attitude and will have to face up to his responsibilities, including before the International Criminal Court” said Sarkozy.
“This is a choice that he must make — not in the coming weeks, but in the coming days” he warned.
The timeframe provided by Sarkozy may signal information by Paris that the decision by ICC judges is forthcoming.
The ICC prosecutor in a briefing at the UN Security Council (UNSC) last week said that the international community must prepare itself for the “post arrest warrant stage”.
“The Judges will rule shortly on the prosecution request for an arrest warrant” Ocampo told the UNSC in his semi-annual report.
The daily Al-Hayat newspaper published in London quoted the opposition leaders of the Umma party Sadiq Al-Mahdi and Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Mohamed Osman Al-Mirghani as warning that an arrest warrant will push Sudan toward a Somalia style situation.
Al-Mahdi and Al-Mirghani said that Al-Bashir’s indictment will embolden rebels and lead for broken links with international community and called for national reconciliation.
In his speech today the French president also raised the issue of another Darfur suspect who is also a minister in the Sudanese cabinet.
“The international community can’t talk with someone who appoints someone to his government who is charged with a crime,” said Sarkozy, who holds the rotating presidency of the European Union (EU).
This was in reference to Ahmed Haroun, state minister for humanitarian affairs who is wanted by the ICC for 51 counts of war crimes.
Sudan has refused to hand Haroun or the other indicted militia commander Ali Mohamed Ali Abdel-Rahman, also know as Ali Kushayb.
EU officials are prohibited from making any contacts with an individual accused of war crimes which would also include Al-Bashir if ICC judges endorse the charges.
UN experts estimate some 300,000 people have died and 2.5 million driven from their homes. Sudan blames the Western media for exaggerating the conflict and puts the death toll at 10,000.
(ST)