Bashir rejects pressure to sack Haroun over ICC indictment
April 3, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese President Omer Hassan al-Bashir has revealed that he refused to accept the resignation of North Kordofan governor Ahmed Haroun and also resisted pressure to sack him over his indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Bashir said at a meeting with leaders of political forces in northern Kordofan state capital of El-Obeid on Friday that Haroun was targeted by the ICC not because he is a criminal but because it was based on the notion of “Arabs vs. Africans” that prevailed among nations that target Sudan with a view of inciting sedition.
The president also spoke of pressures directed at Haroun by parties he did not identify which told him that he is embarrassing the president by remaining in the government.
“Haroun gave in to the pressure and offered his resignation to me, but I told him tear it up and go back to your job,” and added “The ICC list is long and includes 52 of the country’s leaders”.
Bashir was making reference to the list created by the UN Commission of Inquiry on Darfur headed by judge Antoine Cassese and handed over to then ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo in 2005.
The names on the list were never released and Ocampo insisted that he never used it as a basis for charges in any case.
“The things we want to do we will do and what we don’t want to do we won’t do even if asked by the UN Security Council or the United Nations or the African Union .. no one will impose anything on us.”
The UNSC referred the Darfur case to the ICC under a Chapter VII resolution in 2005 since Sudan is not a state party to the court.
In December 2014, Bensouda announced in her semi-annual briefing before the UNSC that she will suspend new investigations into the Darfur situation citing lack of UNSC support and stretched resource.
(ST)