Sudan calls on EU to drop ICC as condition for receiving aid
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May 12, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government told a visiting
official from the European Union (EU) that they should waive one of
the requirements that is preventing Sudan from receiving aid under the
Cotonou agreement.
JPEG - 25.7 kb
European Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs (L) speaks during a
joint news conference with Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ali Karti in
Khartoum May 12, 2011 (Reuters)
Ali Karti, Sudan minister for foreign affairs, said that his country
has been denied access to hundreds of millions in Euros due to its
refusal to ratify the Rome Statute which is the founding text of the
International Criminal Court (ICC).
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) referred the situation in
Darfur to the ICC in 2005 under a Chapter VII resolution after a U.N.
commission of inquiry concluded that Sudan is unable and unwilling to
conduct trials for those who perpetrated violence in the war ravaged
region.
Since then, the ICC charged three individuals from the government side
including Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir. As a result,
Khartoum went and revoked its signature of the Rome Statute.
The remarks by Sudan’s top diplomat came after his meeting with
European Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs in Khartoum today.
The Cotonou agreement in its original format aims at the reduction and
eventual eradication of poverty while contributing to sustainable
development and to the gradual integration of Africa, the Caribbean
and the Pacific (ACP) countries into the world economy.
However, 2005 amendments add the fight against impunity and promotion
of criminal justice through the ICC.
“The parties shall seek to take steps towards ratifying and
implementing the Rome Statute and related instruments,” the agreement
reads.
Sudan has refused to sign the revised agreement by the set deadline
which expired on June 30, 2009. As a result, the EU has been unable to
disburse 300 million Euros pledged at the May 2008 Sudan Consortium
for the period 2008-2013.
Karti said that he agreed with Piebalgs on establishing a "quality
partnership" between Sudan and the EU. Piebalgs promised that the EU
bloc will support Sudan in its quest for debt relief and joining the
World Trade Organization (WTO) but he stressed the need to resolve the
political impasse between North and South Sudan over Abyei as well as
finding a solution to the Darfur conflict.
The Sudanese minister for international cooperation Galal Al-Degair
revealed that the EU gave 150 million Euros that would be used for
different parts of the country. The Sudanese official said he asked
the EU official for moralizing ties with European investment bank.
Piebalgs also met with 2nd VP Ali Osman Taha and leader of the
opposition Umma Party Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi.
(ST)
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