Sudan lobbies to avoid Darfur genocide arrest

September 22, 2008
CNN
Original Source: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/09/22/sudan.un.ap/index.html

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Sudan officials plan a behind-the-scenes lobbying effort at the United Nations this week to avert the prosecution of the country's longtime president on charges of genocide in Darfur.
But prospects seemed dim at a time when Sudan has shown little willingness to compromise and launched an expansive military offensive against rebels in the western Darfur region. Efforts by African countries, the tiny Gulf state of Qatar, and France to solve the crisis also have not yielded tangible results.
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has asked judges to issue an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir on charges he carried out genocide in Darfur.
Up to 300,000 people have been killed and more than 2.5 million have been chased from their homes in the region since fighting between the goverment-backed janjaweed militia and rebels began in early 2003.
The court is expected to make its decision before the end of the year and the Sudanese government has been lobbying African and Arab countries to support its attempts to evade al-Bashir's prosecution.
The African Union has asked the U.N. Security Council to freeze the ICC case against al-Bashir. The Security Council can do so if it deems the prosecution as a threat to peace and security. While the Security Council took note of the request in July, it had said it would revisit it later.
It appears Sudan is now shying away from asking the council to halt the case as it becomes increasingly less likely that it would be able to avert a veto within the council.
The council initially asked the ICC to investigate the Darfur crisis and freezing the process at this point could be seen as not only undermining the court but also emboldening the Sudanese government.
Sudan also lost one its biggest supporters in the council, South African President Thabo Mbeki, who announced Sunday he would resign, effective as soon as a new president is chosen. He sent his foreign minister instead to the U.N. General Assembly meeting this week.
For now, Sudan plans to focus its attention on the General Assembly, which it will address on Tuesday.
Al-Bashir's spokesman, Mahfuz Faidul, said the Sudanese delegation, headed by Vice President Ali Osman Taha, will tell the assembly about Sudan's efforts to reach a peace deal in Darfur.
Taha will hold talks with several leaders including French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Qatar's crown prince, the U.N. funded radio Miraya reported, quoting Sudan's ambassador to the U.N. He is also expected to meet U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, according to Sudanese media.
Faidul said Khartoum has taken measures to show it is serious about peace in Darfur, including appointing its own Darfur-based prosecutor to look into complaints of violence and reaching out to different Sudanese factions.
A day before flying to New York, Taha made amends with a disgruntled ex-rebel leader who had signed a peace deal with the government in 2006 but returned to the bushes early this summer over the failure to implement the deal.
Faidul said Sudan's security forces have also gone after bandits in Darfur who endanger the joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping mission and aid workers.
But Faidul stopped short of saying Sudan will request a freeze of the case. He also renewed warnings that attempts to prosecute al-Bashir would backfire.
Sudan is ready to go further than what most imagine if the United Nations and the Security Council leave us facing the ICC, he said. It will be nothing less than ending all our agreements with the United Nations.
There are outside efforts at trying to resolve the crisis to avoid further turmoil in Darfur.
Qatar has offered to mediate between the Sudanese government and Darfur rebels, though it has given few details on the effort. Khartoum has come out in support of the Qatari initiative, though the rebels have been lukewarm.
Hassan al-Turabi, a powerful Sudanese opposition figure accused by Sudan's ruling party of masterminding the rebellion in Darfur, arrived in Qatar on Sunday and was expected to meet with the emirate's leadership.
France has also encouraged Sudan to hand over two mid-level officials who were indicted by the ICC in 2007 on crimes against humanity -- something Khartoum has refused to do.
But French officials have denied reports they are negotiating any deal with Sudan that would freeze a future warrant against al-Bashir. Faidul described the Paris efforts as a bargain deal and dismissed it.
Sudan expert Alex de Waal said Khartoum has little confidence that any sort of deal to avert the prosecution will be worked out.
The current military offensive against strategic rebel targets in Darfur is a sign that Sudan's powerful security apparatus is taking preventive measures to secure themselves, said de Waal, the author of numerous books on Sudan.
Rebel groups said the offensive was an attempt by the government to change the balance of power on the ground.