BBC NEWS
Sudan 'will block genocide case'
Sudan has said it will do all it can to block the work of the International
Criminal Court, which has accused the nation's leader of genocide in Darfur.
President Omar al-Bashir's most senior adviser told the BBC the allegations
were designed to generate hostility between tribal groups in Darfur.
Ghazi Salaheddin said that if the ICC pursued the case it could jeopardise
relations between Sudan and the UN.
Meanwhile, the UN is withdrawing about 200 non-essential staff from Darfur.
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The UN said the decision to pull back staff from the joint UN-African Union
Darfur mission, Unamid, came after recent violence and as a precaution after
the genocide accusation.
In the capital, Khartoum, the UN told its staff to stay at home as thousands of
Sudanese took to the streets rallying in support of their president.
Mr Bashir, who says the accusations are lies, is accused of genocide, crimes
against humanity and war crimes in Darfur.
Judges at the ICC, an independent body, are yet to decide if there are
reasonable grounds to issue an arrest warrant against Mr Bashir.
Some 300,000 people have died as a result of the conflict in Darfur since 2003,
while more than two million people have fled their homes, the UN estimates.
Sudan's government denies mobilising Arab Janjaweed militias to attack black
African civilians in Darfur since rebels took up arms in 2003.
'No jurisdiction'
In a BBC interview, Ghazi Salaheddin said Sudan did not recognise the ICC's
jurisdiction and it would be rallying support among its allies to try to block
proceedings.
Efforts to indict a sitting head of state would set a dangerous precedent, he
said.
HAVE YOUR SAY I strongly support the ICC's move, I do not want to see people
dying anymore Job, Sudan
Allegations of genocide by the ICC's chief prosecutor were designed to generate
hostility between tribal groups in Darfur, Mr Salaheddin said.
"On the allegation of genocide, an international commission sanctioned by the
United Nations has come and investigated the situation in Sudan and has
concluded that there was no genocide. So genocide is out of the question," he
said.
Mr Salaheddin denied the government of Sudan was blackmailing the international
community by failing to provide security guarantees for peacekeepers and
humanitarian staff.
He said that Sudan would be seeking support from its allies in the Arab League,
which is meeting on Saturday to discuss how to respond to the ICC's accusations.
The UN runs large-scale humanitarian operations in the region and has thousands
of peacekeepers in Darfur as part of a joint mission with the African Union
(AU).
African Union dilemma
In its first reaction, China expressed grave concern over the ICC prosecutor's
decision to seek the arrest of Omar al-Bashir.
A foreign ministry spokesman said the court should try to help bring stability
to Sudan and not to undermine it.
He said China would continue to consult with other members of the UN Security
Council about whether to block the ICC but would not speculate on possible
results of talks.
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST BASHIR
Genocide:
Killing members of the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups
Causing these groups serious bodily or mental harm
Inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about these groups' physical
destruction
Crimes against humanity:
Murder
Extermination
Forcible transfer
Rape
Torture
War crimes:
Attacks on civilians in Darfur
Pillaging towns and villages
Meanwhile Russia called for "restraint" from all sides.
Russia's ambassador to the UN said Sudan and the UN must "exercise restraint
and find solutions that will help the people of Sudan and resolve the crisis in
Darfur".
The US, which is not part of the ICC, offered some praise on Monday for
prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo's charge.
"In our view, recognition of the humanitarian disaster and the atrocities that
have gone on there is a positive thing," state department spokesman Sean
McCormack said..
But the African Union urged caution. Speaking on behalf of the AU chairman,
Tanzanian Foreign Minister Bernard Membe said the ICC should suspend its
decision on whether to seek Mr Bashir's arrest until problems in Darfur were
resolved.
The Peace and Security Commissioner for the AU, Ramtane Lamamra, has flown to
Sudan for a meeting with Mr Bashir and other members of the government.
The AU Commission expressed concern that "hard-won gains made in the search for
peace and reconciliation in the Sudan" could be jeopardised.
Foreign ministers of the 15 countries currently serving on the AU's Peace and
Security Council are expected to meet in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital
where the AU is based, next week.
The charges against President Bashir put African countries in an acutely
difficult position, says the BBC's Liz Blunt in Addis Ababa.
They supply almost all the troops for the joint AU/UN peacekeeping force in
Darfur, and are also the countries most likely to be called upon to carry out
any arrest warrant, she says.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7507641.stm
Published: 2008/07/15 14:31:31 GMT
© BBC MMVIII
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Jusfiq Hadjar gelar Sutan Maradjo Lelo
Allah yang disembah orang Islam tipikal dan yang digambarkan oleh al-Mushaf itu
dungu, buas, kejam, keji, ganas, zalim lagi biadab hanyalah Allah fiktif.
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