Sudanese students demonstrate against UN Darfur resolution

KHARTOUM, April 2 (AFP) — Some 300 Sudanese students staged a demonstration in Khartoum to protest a UN resolution referring individuals accused of war crimes in Darfur to the International Criminal Court.

Sudanese students demonstrate in Khartoum to protest a UN resolution referring individuals accused of war crimes in Darfur to the International Criminal Court.(AFP).

The crowd gathered in front of the presidential palace and marched to the UN offices in the city, chanting anti-American and anti-French slogans and carrying banners criticizing UN chief Kofi Annan.

“O cowardly France… shame on Napoleon’s grandsons,” they chanted against the country that is usually considered a friend but has fallen from favour for sponsoring the UN resolution.

Protesters called on Khartoum to cut diplomatic ties with Paris and eject French investors from the country.

“Sever diplomatic relations with France. No to French investments in Sudan”, they urged.

The Security Council voted on Thursday 11-0 to refer Darfur suspects to the ICC, two months after an international enquiry found evidence of war crimes in the region, where an estimated 300,000 have died in two years of violence.

The move clears the way for the Hague-based court to prosecute those behind the murder, rape and pillaging in the country’s western Darfur region, after weeks of tense diplomatic haggling over how to bring the guilty to justice.

“No to unjust Security Council Resolutions,” the students chanted.

Algeria, Brazil and China abstained along with the United States, which is not party to the ICC and could have used its veto power to reject the measure — the first time the Council has made an ICC referral.

“We shall not be subjugated and humiliated and shall not obey the Americans,” read one banner.

Protesters also took issue with Annan, as they marched to UN offices and delivered an open letter to UN chief Kofi Annan denouncing the resolution, the second on Darfur in just three days.

“We shall not be ruled by Kofi Annan,” read another banner.

The letter said the resolution would have negative effect on efforts by the government to implement a peace deal that it signed with southern rebels in January and to negotiate a settlement to the conflict in Darfur.

“The international organisation (UN) seeks to hinder the peace efforts in the Sudan and to expand the zone of war and incite sedition,” the students charged.

The UN should focus on supporting “peace endeavors and rallying the global community around the peace process,” said the letter.

It also called on the UN not to bow to “the pressures and dictates of the big powers” in a veiled reference to the United States and France.

Sudan’s ruling party called on the government Friday to reject the resolution, setting the stage for a new round of confrontation with the international community.

The National Congress “calls on the government and all its institutions to strongly resist this unjust resolution,” said a party statement read by Information Minister Abdul Basit Sebdarat.

It added the resolution was devoid of “any basis for justice and objectivity and violates the principle of national sovereignty.”

The National Congress “strongly denounces and totally rejects the Security Council’s stances and its successive resolutions… against Sudan,” it read.