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19 November 2010

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Sudan’s President

Indicted for War Crimes

 

The International Criminal Court wants

Omar Hassan al-Bashir to faces charges

he orchestrated atrocities in Darfur

 

In 2003, the rebel groups in the Darfur region attacked Sudanese forces. The rebels were black Africans who had suffered from discrimination at the hands of the Arab-led central government of Sudan.

 

The government, under President Omar Hassan al-Bashir responded with great ferocity. Every human rights abuse in the book was thrown at the people of Darfur, all under the direction and control of President al-Bashir.

 

Long List of Human Rights Abuses

In March 2009, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands issued an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. He’s wanted on five counts of crimes against humanity including murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture, and rape, and two counts of war crimes.

 

Time Magazine lists in its Time 100 publication some of al-Bashir’s gruesome record:

• “most deaths as a result of war strategies (2.5 million in Darfur and southern Sudan);
• “most people rendered homeless by scorched-earth policies (7 million); and,
• “most villages burned to the ground (at least 1,500 in Darfur alone).”

 

Add to this the untold thousands who have been raped and tortured since the conflict in Darfur began.

 

Or, as The New York Times put it in March 2009, al-Bashir has been labelled “throughout the world as an incorrigible mass murderer bent on slaughtering his own people in the conflict-riddled region of Darfur.”

 

Warrant for Arrest

The ICC warrant marks the first time a sitting head of state has been charged with war crimes. As Canada’s former Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy wrote in an article in The Globe and Mail (March 2009) it is “an important declaration to the world that no person, no matter how powerful, is immune from the reach of justice in the 21st century.”

 

However, there’s a lot of difference between issuing a warrant and actually making the arrest. Who’s going to march into the presidential palace in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, and slap the handcuffs on al-Bashir?

 

The 108 countries that are members of the ICC are supposed to arrest him if he sets foot in their territory, so he’s not likely to take the risk of a holiday in Paris or Rome. But, he’s not entirely without friends.

 

Arab Solidarity

At the end of March 2009, President al-Bashir attended the annual summit meeting of the Arab League. The meeting was held in Doha, Qatar, a Persian Gulf state that is not a member of the ICC.

 

As The New York Times reported: “The emir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, greeted Mr. Bashir (left) at the airport  with a red carpet treatment, a warm embrace, and a kiss on the cheek.”

 

The other members of the Arab League closed ranks behind the Sudanese president. They argued that “the court’s action revealed the West’s double standard in dealing with Arabs by indicting Mr. Bashir while taking no action against what they saw as war crimes committed by Israel during its offensive in Gaza.”

 

In the past, leaders charged with war crimes have only been apprehended after government changes in their home countries. The world may have to wait a while to see al-Bashir face his accusers.

 

Image credit

Open Democracy

 

Sources

“Omar Hassan al-Bashir.” Don Cheadle and John Prendergast, Time, May 3, 2007.

“Often Split, Arab Leaders Unite for Sudan’s Chief.” Michael Slackman and Robert F. Worth, New York Times, March 30, 2009.

“Wanted: al-Bashir.” Lloyd Axworthy, Globe and Mail, March 4, 2009.

 

© Canada and the World, September 2010

All rights reserved

Mark Knobil

 

“In Darfur, some 2.6 million people are internally displaced, while another 250,000 have sought refuge in Chad (above).”

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

 

Save Darfur