Bashir makes rare admission of "bloodshed" & "injustice" in Sudan
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July 22, 2013, (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese president Omer Hassan
al-Bashir gave an unusually candid assessment of the situation in his
country expressing regret over the prevalence of bloodshed in Sudan
and even appeared to be holding himself personally responsible.
JPEG - 14.6 kb
Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir
"How will god answer our prayers when we are shedding the blood of
Muslims and each others’ blood?" Bashir told attendees at an Iftar
dinner hosted by the head of the Darfur Transitional Authority (DRA)
al-Tijani al-Seisi at his home in Khartoum.
"We know that the destruction of the Ka’aba [in Mecca] is lesser [in
gravity] in the eyes of god than the killing of a [human] soul," he
added.
The Sudanese president stressed that people get punished in this life
for all sins they commit except murder which has its retribution saved
for the day of judgment.
The veteran Sudanese general, who ruled Sudan for 24 years since
staging a coup in 1989, also said that the "injustice" shrouding the
country resulted in drought and lack of rain.
"How can we ask for mercy [from god] when our hands are covered in
blood?" Bashir asked.
He then addressed the growing trend of tribal conflicts in Darfur and
urged the Darfuris present to raise their hands and make an oath on
their desire to seek peace.
"Swear and say we are for peace and against war….We do not want anyone
from outside advising us. We will solve our own problems," the
Sudanese president said.
Bashir said that reasons for the killings in Darfur do not even
warrant slaughtering a sheep let alone a human being and vowed that an
upcoming a tribal reconciliation conference will come up with real
solutions.
The out-of-the-ordinary statements by Bashir represent a stark
departure from his usual fiery speeches in which he often strikes a
challenging and threatening tone to his opponents and to the western
nations alike which he claims are working to topple his regime.
Throughout his two-decades rule, Bashir has managed to weather a major
civil war with what is now independent South Sudan, multiple
rebellions that continue till this very day, U.S. sanctions and most
recently an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant alleging
that he orchestrated war crimes and genocide in Darfur.
The conflict erupted in the large western region of Darfur in 2003,
when ethnic African rebels rose up against Khartoum, complaining of
discrimination by the Arab-dominated government.
Khartoum responded with a military crackdown, and it is accused of
unleashing Arab militias known of Janjaweed, which have attacked
ethnic African villages, killing, raping and looting residents,
according to United Nations reports.
While Khartoum’s human rights record has always drawn condemnation
since Bashir came to power over its brutal suppression of dissent, the
Darfur conflict created a headache for the Sudanese government which
has sought tirelessly to label it as a manufactured and an exaggerated
crisis.
Bashir himself has vehemently denied any mass killings in Darfur and
continuously asserted that no more than 10,000 were killed since the
violence broke out a decade ago and rejected responsibility for the
deaths.
The UN estimates that 300,000 people were killed in the course of the
Darfur conflict while more than 2 million civilians were displaced.
Even though the violence in Darfur has ebbed from its 2003-2004 peaks
it has recently picked up again between the army, rebels and rival
tribes, displacing some 300,000 people since January of this year.
(ST)
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