BBC NEWS
Judicial noose tightens around Bashir
By Martin Plaut
Africa editor, BBC News
The unprecedented decision by the prosecutor of the International Criminal
Court to seek charges against President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan for genocide,
war crimes and crimes against humanity has thrown a sharp light on his part in
the conflict in Darfur.
Some 250,000 people have died and two million fled their homes since 2003.
But Mr Bashir has always accused the international community of exaggerating
the scale of the crisis.
Speaking in 2004, he said the Darfur issue was a "traditional conflict over
resources... coated with claims of marginalisation".
"Strangely the Darfur crisis, according to them [the UN], has become the worst
humanitarian disaster in the world. The report about the crisis occupies the
best part of the influential media by those who have a hidden agenda," he added.
Accusations
However, organisations like Human Rights Watch have documented atrocities in
the western Sudanese region.
[African Union] troops... are completely capable of playing their role
without international intervention
Omar al-Bashir, 2006
Three years ago, Human Rights Watch described the Sudanese government as
pursuing a policy of ethnic cleansing said to be "strategic and well-planned".
"Khartoum has relied on the civilian administration, the Sudanese military and
Janjaweed militias to implement a counter-insurgency policy that deliberately
and systematically targeted civilians in violation of international law," it
said.
And these allegations were renewed earlier in 2008, when the government was
accused of aerial bombardment and ground attacks that drove thousands from
their homes.
Human rights organisations accuse President Bashir of overseeing these
atrocities - allegations that have now resulted in the current indictment.
Noose tightening
Mr Bashir is first and foremost an army man.
After joining the Sudanese armed forces in 1960, he served with the Egyptian
army during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
In June 1989, he led a group of officers who overthrew the government of Sadiq
al-Mahdi, appearing on TV to say that the coup was designed to save Sudan from
rotten politicians.
As chairman of a Revolutionary Command Council, he led the country, making
links with radical Islamists, including Hassan al-Turabi.
The relationship did not last, though, and Mr Turabi was purged and jailed.
Critics of President Bashir say that he has ruled Sudan in the interests of
those northern Sudanese who live along the River Nile.
Anyone from the south of the country, or from a peripheral area like Darfur,
has had little say in the running of the country.
The uprising in Darfur has been ruthlessly repressed. And suggestions that the
United Nations might send international forces to the region were strongly
resisted.
Instead, Mr Bashir has insisted that only African forces be deployed to try to
Darfur.
"The AU [African Union] troops, after their experience and real practice in
resolving conflict in Africa, are completely capable of playing their role
without international intervention," he said in 2006.
"We renew our call to the international community, as well as our Arab and
African brothers, to provide the necessary financial support to these troops
and to increase the participation of Arab and African troops in the mission by
the required numbers, so that the AU can continue playing its role."
The United States has been at the forefront of pressing for action on Darfur.
But - strange as it might seem - it has also maintained close intelligence
links with the Sudanese government.
In 2005, for example, the head of Sudanese intelligence was flown in a CIA jet
to Washington. And US officials have worked closely with Sudan on
anti-terrorism issues.
But the judicial noose has been gradually tightening around Mr Bashir.
In June, the International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo briefed
the UN Security Council on Sudan's refusal to arrest two government officials
for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Now the court has decided it will go higher - and indicted President Omar
al-Bashir himself.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7498459.stm
Published: 2008/07/14 11:07:55 GMT
© BBC MMVIII
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