France seeks exclusion of Sudanese president from Egypt summit

October 26, 2009 (CAIRO) – The French government is considering calling off the next Africa-France summit due to be held in the Egyptian Red Sea coastal city of Sharm El-Sheik next February, according to news report.

The ‘La Lettre du Continent’ newsletter based in Paris, reported that Egypt is unhappy because France does not want to give the green light to invite embattled Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir.

Last March the judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Bashir accusing him of masterminding a campaign to exterminate African tribes in Sudan’s Western region of Darfur.

The European Union (EU) charter prohibits contacts with individuals indicted by the Hague tribunal.

The Agence France Presse (AFP) said that the French interior minister Brice Hortefeux discussed the matter with Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak during their talks in Cairo today.

Diplomatic sources told AFP that participation of Bashir will embarrass Paris in light of the arrest warrant and also put Cairo, a strong backer of the Sudanese president, in an awkward position.

Hortefeux said that France “submitted suggestions on practical organization [of the conference] that would secure a good environment. We discussed several options with Mubarak”.

“France realizes the complexity of the Sudanese issue,” he said.

Paris has not been in Sudan’s good graces, analysts tell AFP, due to its support of the ICC warrant, its hosting of Darfur rebel chief Abdel-Wahid Al-Nur and its military presence in neighboring Chad.

Since the ICC issued its warrant in March against Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, 10 foreigners — including three French nationals — have been kidnapped in the war-torn western region.

However, Janjaweed militia leader Musa Hilal told AFP that there is no specific targeting for French nationals.

“I don’t think there are links between the positions of France (regarding Sudan) and the kidnappings,” said Hilal who is also chief advisor of the Ministry of Federal Affairs in Sudan.

He said that there are three reasons for the kidnappings.

“Firstly, the (humanitarian) organizations don’t distribute aid in a fair manner… and they don’t hire people from different tribes in a fair manner,” Hilal said.

“The second reason is political,” he said, refusing to elaborate.

“Thirdly (the kidnappings) are sending messages to the NGOs, to the Sudanese government, to the African Union, to the United Nations and to the process in Doha,” where rebels held talks with Khartoum, he said.

Members of the Arab tribes of north Darfur are behind the kidnappings, several analysts have said.

France appeared be a target after five employees of Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders- MSF), one of them a French national, were abducted in March.

(ST)