|
Sudan’s Bashir defies the ICC, attending Rwanda summit
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to ArabizeDarfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. arrived in Rwanda on Saturday to attend a summit of African leaders, defying an international warrant for his arrest after public assurances from Rwandan leaders that he would not be nabbed Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! The African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... summit on Sunday is expected to discuss the continent’s uneasy relationship with the  International Criminal Court... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... , which some say unfairly targets Africans. Ahead of the summit, some African countries renewed efforts to quit the ICC enmasse despite the opposition of some countries like Botswana. Nigeria, Senegal ... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees... and Ivory Coast have been pushing back as well in recent days. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has led growing criticism of the ICC, calling it "useless" during his inauguration in May, an event that al-Bashir attended. Some countries want a separate African court with jurisdiction over rights abuses. "Withdrawal from ICC is entirely within the illusory sovereignty of a particular state," Joseph Chilengi, an AU official, told news hounds Saturday. Al-Bashir is wanted by the ICC for alleged atrocities in the country’s Darfur region. He should be at the ICC answering to charges that include genocide, "not persisting in this game of cat-and-mouse with the court," Elise Keppler of Human Rights Watch ... During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011, HRW received a pledge from the Foundation to Promote Open Society, of which George Soros is Chairman, for general support totaling $100,000,000. The grant is being paid in installments of $10,000,000 over ten years.Through June 30, 2013, HRW had received $30,000,000 towards the fulfillment of the pledge.... said Saturday night. Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said this week that Rwanda would not arrest al-Bashir. "Africa doesn’t support criminals, but when justice is involved with a lot of politics we take a pause to separate the two," Mushikiwabo told news hounds. The African Union summit also will discuss South Sudan, where clashing army factions raised concerns of a return to civil war. The chaos threatens a peace deal signed last August between President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar. United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... Chief  the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon, who is attending the summit, has called for an arms embargo.Posted by: Fred 2016-07-18 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=462036 |