Mebaki says justice integrated part of Darfur peace process
August 30, 2009 (KHARTOUM) — The head of high-level African Union Panel on Darfur (AUPD) reaffirmed on Sunday the need for justice to achieve peace in Darfur saying it is a fundamental pillar.
The AUPD aims to determine how best to quickly end the conflict and expedite the peace process to create conditions conducive to promote justice, healing, and reconciliation.
“The peace, justice and reconciliation are integrated parts of the peace process, and all of them are complementing each other,” Mbeki told reporters today in Khartoum. “We are convinced that the justice must be achieved in Darfur, and it’s a fundamental pillar of the endeavor for a peaceful solution to the crisis,” he further said.
“But there are several questions on how to achieve the justice and on the institutions that we need to deal with the justice, we’ll talk in our report to the African Union on these questions,” Mbeki stressed.
The AUDP is preparing a report on the findings of the commission and its recommendations to address the Darfur crisis. The report will be submitted to an AU summit to be held in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Monday.
The panel is expected to propose in its final report a South African style “Truth and Reconciliation” commission.
The indictment of Bashir stirred controversy throughout Africa and the AU urged the UNSC to invoke its powers under the Rome Statute to suspend it for a period of 12 months that can be renewed indefinitely.
Last month the African Union (AU) summit in Sirte, Libya adopted a resolution instructing its members who are ICC members not to cooperate in apprehending the Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir despite their legal obligations to do so.
The panel is comprised of three former African heads of state including South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki, Burundi’s Pierre Buyoya and Nigeria’s General Abu Salam Abu-Bakr.
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oshay
Mebaki says justice integrated part of Darfur peace process
Justice definitely must be established to bring to account all those who’ve committed crimes. However the ICC definition of justice is not based on reality.
Kur
Mebaki says justice integrated part of Darfur peace process
How do they define justice in Khartoum? Flogging women for wearing trousers and raping women and children in Darfur is part of the Sharia code, so it cannot be counted as crime. I think that is why the ICC definition of justice differs from Khartoum’s.
Kur
Samson Shawel Ambaye
Mebaki says justice integrated part of Darfur peace process
God be with ICC and UNSC.
Mbeki and AUPD should not put obstacles before ICC’s arrest warrant against most wanted genocide criminal Bashir. If ICC wants to arrest Bashir tomorrow AUPD must not be defender of the arrest because his arrest never bring problem in Darfur peace. Mbekis never forget that those hundreds of thousands of Darfur victims were Africans like Bashir. Bashir cannot be considered different to his victims just because he is a president.