NCP shrugs off U.S. objection to Al-Bashir’s attendance of South Sudan independence
June 27, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The governing National Congress Party (NCP) in North Sudan has reacted indifferently to reports suggesting that the U.S. president Barack Obama has conditioned his attendance of South Sudan independence ceremony on the absence of Sudan’s President Al-Bashir.
Al-Tayyar Arabic daily newspaper in Khartoum reported this week that a number of Western leaders had conditioned their attendance of South Sudan independence ceremony on 9 July on the absence of Sudan’s president.
“A number of European heads of state, including the French President Sarkozy and UK Prime Minister as well as the U.S President Barack Obama, have in principle welcomed the invitation to attend the South’s independence ceremony, but they conditioned their appearance in Juba on the non-attendance of the president of the republic Omar Al-Bashir, pointing to the crimes with which he is charged by the International [Criminal] Court,” the paper quoted an anonymous Southern official.
Sudan’s president Al-Bashir is sought by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide he allegedly masterminded during the long-running conflict in the country’s western region of Darfur. Al-Bashir denies the charges and denigrates the ICC as a tool of neo-colonialism aimed at changing his regime.
Since the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Al-Bashir in 2008, Western officials have mostly avoided meeting him. Since his indictment, however, the defiant Sudanese leader has managed to visit a handful of countries, including three ICC member states.
When asked to comment on reports that Obama would not attend the ceremony unless Al-Bashir is absent, the NCP’s political secretary Qutbi al-Mahdi replied: “this is his business and we have no comment on that.”
South Sudan officials have given conflicting statements on whether Al-Bashir will be invited to the ceremony or not. Former federal cabinet affairs minister Luka Byong told the UAE-based Al-Itihad newspaper earlier this month that Al-Bashir would receive an invitation but it is up to him whether to accept or reject it.
But Atem Garang, another leading figure of the ruling SPLM in South Sudan, told the pro-government daily newspaper Akhir Lahza this week that they are yet to invite the Northern government to attend the independence ceremony.
NCP slams U.S. “carrot-and-stick” policy
Separately, Qutbi Al-Mahdi distrusted promises by the U.S. administration to help relieve Sudan’s hefty external debts in exchange for de-escalating the situation in the country’s North-South border state of South Kordofan, where the Northern army has been fighting elements aligned with South Sudan army.
Al-Mahdi told reporters in Khartoum on Monday that the NCP does not pay any attention to U.S. promises whether on the debt issue or other issues because the government realises that the U.S. administration “spews such promises to achieve particular ends then reneges on its commitments.”
“The failure to fulfill promises and commitments is a moral issue and we know to which extent does America honors its promises,” the ruling party official said.
Al-Mahdi went on to fulminate against the U.S. policy know as the “carrot-and-stick,” saying that no free people would accept to deal with America in accordance with this “nefarious” policy.
“That’s why we in Sudan do not afford America’s promises any attention,” he added.
The U.S. Administration is currently in the process of removing Sudan’s name from its blacklist of countries sponsoring terrorism, but the administration has warned Sudan government that the process of normalisation of ties would be jeopardised if the Northern army does not withdraw from the contested region of Abyei which it seized last month.
(ST)