Al-Mahdi and his Recipes in Favour of al-Bashir on ICC mandate for Darfur
Mahmoud A. Suleiman
This article comes against the backdrop of the News media reports that quoted the statements allegedly made by Sayyed al-Sadiq al-Mahdi in support of the controversial views that call for finding ways and means to save the National Congress Party (NCP) regime leader, the fugitive from the International Justice, Omer Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir from the predicaments of his indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague which has been chasing him with the view to arrest him since 2009.
Sayyed al-Sadiq al-Mahdi, leader of the Ansar Religious Sect and chairman of the National Umma Party ( NUP) and the head of the last Sudanese government which was thought democratically elected, the Octogenarian and the Career Politician, has remained controversial in his political positions and in his radical views on armed struggle in general and in the Armed Movements in Darfur who are freedom fighters asking for their rights of sharing the Sudanese Country’s Wealth and Power in particular to the degree that Mr. al-Mahdi becoming a pacifist as well as taking negative positions towards any legitimate struggle against the dictatorial regimes in Sudan. However, at this juncture, Mr. al-Mahdi has lifted the lid and opened the Pandora’s jar the artefact in the Greek mythology. In that, he suggested some alternatives such as the Convention of the Democratic South Africa (CODESA) to replace the (ICC) indictment of Omer al-Bashir. The important argument to that suggestion is that there is no parity in comparing what happened in the Apartheid South Africa and what happened to the Sudanese citizens in the region of Darfur in the Western Sudan of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. Moreover, it is high time to categorically refute the falsehood propaganda and claims of the African Union (AU) entity that the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague only persecute and unfairly targets African Politicians. The fact which categorically refutes that head-on is that the first targets of the (ICC) are the European military personnel and politicians in the former Yugoslavia who have been tried at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for Persons responsible for serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law since the year 1991 better known as the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) located at The Hague. Of those indicted includeRadovan Karadži? who was a Bosnian Serb former politician and convicted war criminal who served as the President of Republika Srpska during the Bosnian War and sought the unification of that entity with Serbia, as an example from a long list.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q= adovan+karadzic&oq= adovan&aqs=chrome.0.0j69i57j0l4.33187j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Political analysts and observers indicate that Mr Sadig al-Mahdi seems can’t be bothered by what has happened to the citizens of Sudan in Darfur who and their Ansar ancestors were the supporters and the constituents of the National Umma Party (NUP). At worse, he continued to treat them on the principle of keeping your dog hungry to follow you obediently! Here we apologize to the Animal Welfare Organizations and we are among them.
Of his al-Bashir supporting controversial views, al-Mahdi in one his interviews with the press said: He believes that change in Sudan necessitates a planned uprising, and not a chaotic one, in order to avoid bloodshed and chaos. He also deprecated the warnings of state collapse in case an uprising kicked off, stressing that the continuance of the (NCP) regime is the shorter path toward the state’s collapse.
Some members of the people of Sudan who are fed up with the defeatist positions of Mr. Al – Sadiq Al – Mahdi said shouting: “Sadig Siddig Abdelrahman Mohmed Ahmed al-Mahdi should keep his Mouth Shut on ICC Indictment of his Master of Grace Muslim Brotherhood Syndicate Omer al-Bashir”!
Of the other rejected quasi-racist positions of Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi occurred during the formation of the New Dawn Front, which was formed by the components of the Armed Movements, including the two Sudan Liberation Movements (SLAM/A) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLA-N) when Sadiq al-Mahdi ridiculed and called the New Dawn Front contemptuously “false dawn or Twilight”. And ironically Sadig Al-Mahdi later on came to join the same group that he previously ridiculed under the new name of the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) which became under the Political Opposition Umbrella Known as Sudan Call and al-Mahdi has become the Leader of the body he used to shun away from and scorn at and presently known as the Sudan Call!
Sayed al-Sadig al-Mahdi and his Recipes for the Darfur Issue at the ICC include the following:
1) for al-Bashir to surrender himself to the ICC at The Hague as did the Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta
2) The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to Invoke Article 16 of the of the Rome Statue in favour of al-Bashir’s innocence
3) The Survivors of Genocide in Darfur to use the Apartheid South Africa tool Known as the Convention Of the Democratic South Africa (CODESA) with the view to pardon Omer Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir who had confessed to perpetrating the crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide in Darfur when he said during the Holy Month of Ramadan at a time thought that his conscience reflected self-guilt of killing of 9000/ 10000 people Only and Not the 300000 the USA earlier said. If we use the controversial legal rule that says the confession of the accused / the defendant as the Master of evidence, we will find Omer Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir has condemned himself by admitting that he had killed only Nine Thousand or Ten thousand Sudanese citizens in the Darfur region and not the 300000!
With regard to the firmly held view and the suggestion by Sayed Sadig al-Mahdi for the Use of (CODESA) of the Apartheid South Africa, the fact is that the initiative was made by the then South African President F. W. de Klerk in 1989 that offered the golden opportunity for change. In 1989, Nelson Mandela, who was arrested in1962, for conspiring to overthrow the state and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia Trial. Mandela served 27 years in prison, initially on Robben Island, and later in Pollsmoor Prison and Victor Verster Prison though still confined to prison, contacted anti-apartheid leaders and put forward proposals for negotiations. Person responsible for the end of apartheid in South Africa was F. W. de Klerk President of South Africa from 20 September 1989 – to 9 May 1994; https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Nelson+Mandela%2C+though+still+confined+to+prison&oq=Nelson+Mandela%2C+though+still+confined+to+prison&aqs=chrome..69i57.1326j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Would it be imagined that Omer al-Bashir to take such an initiative and would the survivors of the genocide in Darfur agree voluntarily to the (CODESA) type of resolutions with the presence of the tribal militias of the Rapid Support Force (RSF) which are under the direct command of Omer al-Bashir? That initiative would be like making the Store of valuables to be guarded by professional recidivist thieves, so to speak! Such an initiative will neither be approved by the survivors of the Darfur genocide nor by the criminals who have committed the heinous crimes in the Darfur region. Thus, the proposition is false and born dead. At this juncture, it is appropriate to quote what Doctor. Omer al-Garray wrote in his article entitled: “Sadiq al-Mahdi Imam of Shameful Positions”: Sayed al-Sadiq al-Mahdi should seek ways and means to devise other tools to save and exonerate the master of the grace of his son Abdelrahman al-Sadig, the Assistant of the génocidaire Marshall Omer Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir from his predicament. This is what Mr Sadiq fears, that the International Criminal Court (ICC) could hold his son Abdel Rahman accountable, like the leaders of the National Congress Party (NCP) regime. This is why he talked about a political solution in which the Muslim Brotherhood Movement (MBM) waives authority to ensure that they are not held accountable for their crimes. It is a process of surrendering to the (NCP) military regime all the political legacy of the National Umma Party.https://www.alrakoba.net/news-action-show-id-309748.htm
Now it is time to Delph into the depths of Howand When the Darfur Cause surface globally to land on The Hague Based ICC Chambers?
The court, based at The Hague, in the Netherlands, upheld the request of the Chief Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, to charge Bashir with war crimes and crimes against humanity. More than 200,000 people have died since 2003 in the country’s western Darfur region. At the time, the US, UK and France were in favour of the arrest warrant, and hope it may push Sudan’s government towards reforms and ending the six-year conflict.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) referred the situation in Darfur, Sudan to the Persecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2005, on the Resolution 1595 which was adopted by Vote of 11 in Favour to None Against, with 4 Abstentions of Algeria, Brazil, China, and United States of America. Acting under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, the Security Council decided that evening to refer the situation prevailing in Darfur since 1 July 2002 to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Council decided also that the Government of Sudan (GoS) and all other parties to the conflict in Darfur would cooperate fully with the Court and Prosecutor, providing them with any necessary assistance. The Council decided further that nationals, current or former officials or personnel from a contributing State outside the Sudan which was not a party to the Rome Statute would be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of that contributing State for all alleged acts or omissions arising out of or related to operations in the Sudan authorized by the Council or the African Union, unless such exclusive jurisdiction had been expressly waived by that contributing State.
On March 31, 2005, by a vote of 11 in favour and 0 against with 4 abstentions (the United States, China, Brazil, and Algeria), the Security Council referred the situation of Darfur to the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor under Resolution 1593. On March 4, 2009, the ICC indicted Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir, the incumbent president of Sudan, on two counts of war crimes (involving pillaging and intentionally directing attacks against civilians) and five counts of crimes against humanity (including murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture, and rape) after reviewing the Prosecution Application submitted by Luis Moreno Ocampo. The Court later added the charge of genocide to al-Bashir’s warrant after the prosecutor appealed the decision. That constituted three counts of genocide against the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups, including genocide by killing; genocide by causing serious bodily or mental harm; and genocide by deliberately inflicting conditions of life meant to destroy each target group.
On the other hand, the Rome Statute establishing the ICC contains a provision, article 16, that allows the UN Security Council (UNSC) to pass a resolution (under its Chapter VII authority) to defer an ICC investigation or prosecution for a renewable period of 12 months. Article 16 states in full:
1. Does the current situation in Sudan merit a deferral by the Security Council under article 16?
There is no indication that the ICC investigations are detrimental to the maintenance of international peace and security or that suspending the court’s activities would contribute to peace in Sudan. The peace process in Darfur has been stalled for more than nine months on grounds wholly unrelated to the ICC investigations or to the requested warrant for President al-Bashir.
1. Can the Security Council defer the International Criminal Court investigation if Sudan establishes domestic courts to try cases related to crimes committed in Darfur?
Sudan can challenge the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction under article 19 of the Rome Statute on grounds that it is genuinely willing and able to prosecute cases domestically. However, an admissibility challenge under article 19 is distinct from deferral under article 16 and is made to the court, not to the Security Council.
Article 16
Deferral of investigation or prosecution
No investigation or prosecution may be commenced or proceeded with under this Statute for a period of 12 months after the Security Council, in a resolution adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, has requested the Court to that effect; that request may be renewed by the Council under the same conditions. It is noteworthy that the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has never Invoked Article 16 of the Rome Statute.
Dr. Omar al-Garray said in his article that the statements issued by the rebel movements including the Sudan Liberation Movement (SPLM/A) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), commenting on the statements of Mr Sadiq al-Mahdi, are baseless statements and do not represent their true bias for the innocent Sudanese victims of the (NCP) regime. They ignored the rights of displaced, and the right of the women who were raped in Darfur.Dr. Omar al-Garray continued calling on the armed movements, the organizations and political parties, to issue a joint statement, isolating Mr Sadiq al-Mahdi from the leadership of the Sudan Call, and put him in his hiding place with the Government of the Muslim Brotherhood Movement (MBM). Dr Omar al-Garray said asking the aforementioned Movements as to whether they still keep thinking that Mr Sadiq Mahdi presence with them will increase their strength, and he answers by saying: “but you will be weakened. If you are unable to overthrow Mr. Sadiq al-Mahdi today from your leadership, you are incapable of overthrowing the (NCP) regime. Dr. Omar al-Garray continued affirmatively saying: “You cannot overthrow the regime sinceyou have succeeded in placing its supporters at the top of your leadership”. https://www.alrakoba.net/news-action-show-id-309748.htm
The ends justify the means attributed toItalian diplomat and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli the”The Prince”May apply to some chronic veteran in Sudanese Career politicians.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prince
On July 28, 2018, al- Mahdi warned of a “catastrophic scenario” if the so-called of national salvation revolution (Rescue/Ingaz) survives and putsthe (Sudan Call) as a savior. The foregoing statement illustrates the contradiction in which the head of the Umma National Party (NUP) Sayed Sadig al-Mahdi lives.
المهدي يحذر من(سيناريو كارثي) حال بقاء الانقاذ ويطرح (نداء السودان) منقذا
Dr. Mahmoud A. Suleiman is an author, columnist and a blogger. His blog is http://thussudan.wordpress.com/