Time for Accountability: Sudanese Pres. Omar Al-Bashir Up Next

 Monday, July 14, 2008 

             By Emmanuel Abalo

The International Comity of Nations and the United Nations have increasingly turned the heat on despots and their machines of war in recent times and using the International Criminal Court, the ICC and Interpol to indict some of these war criminals from every corner of the globe.

The latest to fall into the dragnet of the ICC is the sitting President of Sudan Omar Ahmed al-Bashir, charged with war crimes and genocide against humanity.

The International Criminal Court (ICC), is an independent permanent court that tries persons accused of the most serious crimes of international concern, namely genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The ICC is based on a treaty, joined by 106 countries.

The ICC is a court of last resort. It will not act if a case is investigated or prosecuted by a national judicial system unless the national proceedings are not genuine, for example if formal proceedings were undertaken solely to shield a person from criminal responsibility. In addition, the ICC only tries those accused of the gravest crimes.

In all of its activities, the ICC says it "observes the highest standards of fairness and due process. The jurisdiction and functioning of the ICC are governed by the Rome Statute."

The ICC has a relationship with the United Nations through an agreement approved by the Assembly of States Parties to this Statute. As of March, 2008, 30 African countries out of a total of 106 worldwide, excluding Sudan, had ratified the Rome Statute. Interestingly, Sudan signed the Rome Statute on August, 09, 2000, but the Sudanese Parliament has yet to ratify the document and now there is little or no chance that will be happening anytime soon especially with this major development involving President Bashir.

The most prominent non-signatories to the ICC are United States, Russia and China.

Back in June of 2005, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno-Ocampo decided to open an investigation into the situation in Darfur, Sudan based on the review and interview of thousands of documents and dozens of independent experts. At the time, Prosecutor Ocampo said..."The investigation will require sustained cooperation from national and international authorities. It will form part of a collective effort, complementing African Union and other initiatives to end the violence in Darfur and to promote justice..."

So technically, the international community including the African continental grouping the African Union (AU) was put on notice of the pending broad-based investigation into allegations of genocide against Dafurians by President Bashir and the state apparatus.

Genocide, the term created after World War II, is referred to as "the systematic murder of an entire political, cultural, or religious group. According to the El Paso Holocaust musuem, the Nazis used the phrases Final Solution, special treatment, and resettlement as euphemisms for genocide. The Webster dictionary definite genocide as the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group.The terms also referred to the systematic, state-sponsored or encouraged killings of members of a specific, identifiable group - in this instance, the allegation is attributable to the symbol of state power and dignity Mr. Bashir.

According to the United Nations, up to 300,000 people have died and more than 2.2 million have been displaced since the Darfur conflict broke out in February 2003. But the Sudanese government countered the U.N estimate by saying only 10,000 have been killed. But one death at the hand of any government anywhere is one too many, unacceptable, must be accounted for and justice meted out - let alone 10,000 of its citizens! It would be naive to conjecture that a local court in Sudan would hold Mr Bashir to account and the AU, for its part, is content with issuing diplomatic platitudes.

Additionally, the BBC just concluded an investigation which fingers China as the culprit fueling the conflict in Darfur, with its military hardware and personnel training to the Sudanese government in spite of an arms embargo. The arms embargo require that UN countries exercise all measures to ensure that no side gets military assistance in the Dafurian conflict. The same China joined Russia recently to veto UN sanctions intended for Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

Obviously, the Chinese have a strategic interest in procuring a "sweet heart and reliable" oil deal from the Sudanese because of growing demand for the commodity globally. This would mean China coddling even despotic regimes in Africa, in this instance, Sudan. China is on record for regularly and violently suppressing dissent and so finds commonality with Sudan.

The general premise of the charge of genocide is based on reasonable allegations that the Sudanese Armed Forces and its allies, the Janjaweed Militia committed a host of intentional criminal activities including rapes, killings, torture, imprisonment, harassment, and destruction of properties against civilians for nearly a decade in Dafur, especially defenseless women and girls. The particular ethnic groups targeted include the Furs, Zaghawas and Masalits.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) argues that based on the charges, these would amount to war crimes and, thus has the statutory and legal right to pursue the perpetrator(s) so that justice can be served. According to the Rome Statute, Article 58(1b)".... At any time after the initiation of an investigation, the Pre-Trial Chamber shall, on the application of the Prosecutor, issue a warrant of arrest of a person if, having examined the application and the evidence or other information submitted by the Prosecutor, it is satisfied that:

(a) There are reasonable grounds to believe that the person has committed a crime within

the jurisdiction of the Court; and

(b) The arrest of the person appears necessary..."

Again President Bashir is deemed as falling within the intent of this Statute.

Back in April, 2007, the ICC issued an Arrest Warrant for a Sudanese government minister and militia leader, Ahmad Harun aka Ali Kushayb for his active participation in the genocidal romp through Darfur but the Sudanese government has arrogantly refused to hand over the "indictee" claiming " it does not recognize the jurisdiction of the court.

Already, the Sudanese ambassador to the United Nations Abdelhaleem Abdelmahmoud is quoted as saying, "...It is one of the designs by the enemies of the country to settle political scores, they tried it through sanctions, they tried it through inciting our neighbors ... so it is a process of conspiracies against our country..."

The African Union (AU) which has also borne the brunt of attacks on its own peacekeepers failed at another opportunity to protect its own credibility, the lives of its peacekeepers and common sense when it said, "such a [move] could jeopardize peace efforts in the region."

Laughably, there is no peace to protect Darfur. When sanctions were imposed on the Sudanese government as a means of triggering a change in behavior for the better, the government argued that such a move would adversely impact peace negotiations but did not change its murderous policies in Darfur.

This nonsense of "African solidarity" and "protecting its own" as espoused by the AU fly in the face of human decency and forthrightness, especially when there needs to be courage to speak plainly and boldly against excesses committed by member states of the Union.

The dilemma for some African leaders who were democratically elected and practice good governance is that the AU issues statements on their behalf, which do not represent their individual positions on human rights abuses and tyranny as was the recent case with Zimbabwe. And the consequence is that other world continental groupings have to openly challenge the AU's credibility to the embarrassment of some member countries.

From all indications and intelligence reports, the Sudaneese presidency is panicking and uneasy and seeking the help of every group that would be sympathetic - the Arab League, the African Union and China. The Sudanese Ambassador to the U.N is already pleading for the U. N. to block the charge. But this is the same U.N. whose operations Mr. Bashir has repeatedly attacked, humiliated and brutalized in Darfur.

Witnesses of the Sudanese government's excesses will be in abundance, and this has nothing to do with the tired argument of "western persecution of another African leader." Just as you cannot have selective democracy and rule of law for some African countries, you also cannot beat up, rape and murder your own civilians and not be held to account for your impunity.

The reality of handcuffs and a jail cell is closer than it appears in Mr. Bashir's rear view mirror. Let this serve as a warning to all warlords and heads of government: your dismal human rights rap sheet will catch up with you sooner or later. Justice may be delayed but never denied.

The indictment and subsequent arrest of the Sudanese warlord, Mr. Bashir is definitely a victory for humanity, Dafurians and decency, and a shift from impunity to accountability. 

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