Sudan stages angry protest to condemn US, France over UN resolution

By MOHAMED OSMAN

KHARTOUM, Sudan, Apr 2, 2005 (AP) — Some 2,000 protesters staged an angry street demonstration in the Sudanese capital Saturday condemning a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for Sudanese suspected of Darfur war crimes to be referred to the International Court Criminal.

Sudanese students demonstrate in Khartoum to protest a UN resolution referring individuals accused of war crimes in Darfur to the International Criminal Court. The crowd marched to the UN offices, chanting anti-American and anti-French slogans. (AFP).

Protesters chanted anti-U.S. and anti-French slogans to protest the Paris-supported resolution passed Thursday demanding Sudanese suspects face the court in The Hague, The Netherlands, while exempting countries like the United States who oppose the court.

“Down, down USA, we will not be governed by the CIA” and “Death to America” were chanted by the protesters in what Sudan’s ruling National Congress party described as beginning of a mass mobilization to protest the U.N. resolution.

The protesters marched to the U.N. office in Khartoum, which police surrounded for security reasons, to deliver a letter of protest over the resolution and also demanded the French Embassy’s closure.

“We reject this resolution altogether,” said the letter. “It represents only the desire and the greediness of the new colonial powers and it would only inflame Darfur crisis.”

“No Sudanese national will be handed over for trial outside Sudan,” Fatahi Khaleel, the president of the pro-government Lawyers Union. “We will resist it by all means.”

Sudan opposes sending any of its citizens accused of committing war crimes during the two-year conflict in the country’s west to a foreign court, saying Sudan’s judicial system will take charge of any such prosecutions.

It also rejects U.S. claims that it aided Arab militiamen in a violent campaign targeting African villagers throughout Darfur.

An estimated 180,000 people have died in the conflict since February 2003, when two non-Arab rebel groups took up arms against the Arab-dominated government to win more rights for Darfur’s African tribes.

Fifty-one Sudanese suspects were identified by a special U.N. inquiry commission sent to Sudan to assess human rights abuses.

Saturday’s anti-American protests came despite the U.S. decision to abstain from the vote, a move that still marked a major policy shift for Washington. Ever since taking office, President George W. Bush had actively opposed the court.

The U.N. resolution came only after controversial concessions were made, including guarantees that citizens of countries not party to the ICC working in Sudan — such as the United States — would not be handed over to the court or any other nation’s judiciary if they commit crimes in the African country.