From: Hailemelekot, Jonathan (Jonathan_Hailemelekot@cable.comcast.com)
Date: Sun Jul 20 2008 - 11:45:43 EDT
July 18, 2008 (LPAC)--Leaders of the African Union and Arab countries
are reacting strongly to the potential implications of the ICC
prosecution of Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir. Tanzanian Foreign
Affairs Minister Bernard Membe, speaking July 14 on behalf of his
president, Jakaya Kikwete, who chairs the African Union, told Reuters,
"We are asking ICC to re-examine its decision," adding that it was "not
the right time" to prosecute Bashir. "If you arrest al-Bashir, you will
create a leadership vacuum in Sudan. The outcome could be equal to that
in Iraq," he said. AU headquarters in Addis Ababa reported that it was
holding consultations and was sending a top official to Khartoum.
In Sudan itself, the National Assembly, in emergency session July 16,
unanimously passed a resolution supportig the government's rejection of
the jurisdiction of the ICC and affirming that the prosecution is acting
contrary to international law. Demonstrations supporting the government
are taking place in Khartoum and elsewhere in the North. But news
reports indicate satisfaction or even rejoicing over the prosecution in
Southern Sudan and Darfur; a detailed reading is not yet available.
Egypt's Shura Council (upper house) July 16 called on the UN Security
Council to ask the ICC to stop the prosecution. The Shura Council said
the African Union and the Arab League should work together to resolve
the conflict in Darfur. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had warned UN
General Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, in talks in Paris July 14, that
the prosecution would cause peace talks with the Darfur rebels to
collapse.
Across the Arab world, from Algeria to Yemen, there has been a strong
reaction against the ICC prosecution. In the Bahraini parliament, for
example, the conservative al-Asala bloc on July 16 urged all Arab
leaders to support Bashir against the hidden agenda behind the
prosecution.
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----