Warrant issued for Sudan's Bashir

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: BBC

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Sudan's president on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

Omar al-Bashir, who denies the charges, has previously said that an arrest warrant would have "no value".

Reports say Sudan's capital, Khartoum, was tense as people awaited the decision, with fears of unrest.
...
The spokeswoman for the court in The Hague, Laurence Blairon, said the court would transmit as soon as possible to the government of Sudan a request for his arrest and surrender.

She said the violence in Darfur was the result of a common plan organised at the highest level of the Sudanese government, but there was no evidence of genocide.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7923102.stm

[Ohio Joe]

1. Good

Now they just have to figure out a way to get him to the court. Then they need to do the same for Bush and Cheney.

[struggle4progress]

2. Clinton says al-Bashir can "have his day in court"

... "President Bashir would have a chance to have his day in court if he believes that the indictment is wrongly charged. He can certainly contest it," said Clinton.

"I certainly hope that it does not lead to any additional actions of violence or punishment on the part of the Bashir government," added Clinton.

The top U.S. diplomat said the ICC had issued its indictment based on a very long investigation and the case was now in the judicial system "properly so".

Bashir was indicted on seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity but a panel of judges said it had insufficient grounds to charge him for genocide in a conflict that U.N. officials say has killed as many as 300,000 people since 2003 ...

http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed1/idUSN04167832

[David__77]

3. More US double standards.

Obama will not ratify the recognition of the ICC - he'll defend national sovereignty over all US judicial matters - but his administration will use ICC as a club against selected countries like Sudan.

[Neo Atheist]

4. I know, Sudan is being totally screwed here!

It's getting to be that leaders who slaughter hundreds of thousands of people can't get away with it anymore!

[David__77]

6. Sarcasm aside...

I made a relevant point about international power relations. The US seeks all tools at its disposal to maintain political and economic hegemony globally. The lesson for all other countries, regardless of social system, is to adopt the same strategy.

[Neo Atheist]

7. You made a ridiculous statement just now too.

Several in fact. One, your final sentence almost makes it seem like actions like genocide shouldn't be punished until those from America who've violated the ICC's rules regarding war crimes are punished. Secondly, the ICC is as much a tool for our expansion of global hegemony as the Dallas Cowboys.

But yeah, I agree with you, Obama sure is one neocon imperialist! I bet he's nothing more than two Norman Podhoretz's standing on top of one another wearing a costume!

</sarcasm>

[Posteritatis]

8. The ICC can club Sudan as much as it wants; I'm all for it (nt)

[Bacchus39]

9. and Sudan reacts by expelling 10 aid groups

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090304/ap_on_re_mi_ea/sudan_charities

[Solly Mack]

5. I was watching this earlier (on the tube)

K&R

[TankLV]

10. Hopefully bush/cheney are next on the list...

[struggle4progress]

11. Khartoum rallies round Bashir (BBC)

Sudan has dismissed the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against its leader as a "neo-colonialist" move to destabilise it ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7925190.stm

[struggle4progress]

14. Khartoum rejects warrant for Bashir (FT)

By Megan Murphy and Harvey Morris
Published: March 4 2009 13:21 | Last updated: March 4 2009 18:34

Sudan responded with defiance on Wednesday to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for Omar al-Bashir, its president, over accusations he orchestrated a campaign of rape and murder in Darfur.

Khartoum has never recognised the court and a presidential adviser dismissed it as a “mechanism of neo-colonialist policy”. A presidential spokesman said: “We do not care about it at all.”

The foreign ministry said Mr Bashir planned to attend a meeting in Qatar this month as well as all other Arab and African summits. Minutes earlier, the ICC had said all states would be asked to execute the warrant but legal experts considered an arrest unlikely.

Mr Bashir’s allies arranged an anti-ICC rally by hundreds of young men on the streets of Khartoum before the announcement of the warrant had even finished ... http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/35972a62-08b9-11de-b8b0-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

[struggle4progress]

15. President al-Bashir's Sudanese war machine puts on show of defiance (The Times)

Rob Crilly in El Fasher

First came the armoured personnel carriers, soldiers hanging from gun turrets and door handles. Then came the “technicals” — pick-up trucks converted into battlewagons and armed with heavy machine-guns and anti-aircraft guns.

And behind them were the trucks crammed with soldiers wearing balaclavas or scarves wrapped around their faces ...

“This is to show that the Government is still in control of the town and if any of the rebel movements think they can try something then they should think again,” said Elesail Abdul Munim, a bystander as more than 150 military trucks sped past a growing crowd in the town’s market ...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article5847964.ece

[struggle4progress]

12. UPDATE 1-China seeks suspension of case against Bashir (Reuters)

BEIJING, March 5 (Reuters) - China urged the U.N. Security Council on Thursday to suspend the the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant pursuing Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir over suspected war crimes in Darfur.

As a close partner of Sudan and also a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, Beijing will play an important role in shaping how the proposed prosecution of Bashir unfolds.

The council has the power to suspend International Criminal Court actions, if none of the permanent members vetoes such a resolution.

The warrant is the first issued against a sitting head of state by the Hague-based court, which stopped short of including a count of genocide over a conflict that U.N. officials say has killed as many as 300,000 people since 2003 ... http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKSP43276920090305

[struggle4progress]

13. Hamas condemns arrest order against president of Sudan (Xinhua)

GAZA, March 4 (Xinhua) -- The deposed government of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Gaza condemned on Wednesday the International Criminal Court (ICC) for issuing an arrest warrant against for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir ...

The government's spokesman Taher al-Noono said in a written statement sent to reporters that the decision is unjust. Deposed Prime Minister Ismail Haneya had visited in Sudan two years ago, where Sudan has kept good contacts with Hamas.

"The Palestinian government denounces and condemns the international court's warrant. It considers it as an unjust political decision and shows that the world's justice looks with one eye," said al-Noono ... http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/05/content_10945228.htm

[Alamuti Lotus]

17. What deposed government? (+random thoughts)

Bizarre opening to that article.

I am presuming that the ICC will promptly follow up this action with warrants issued for the likes of the Butcher of Groznyy (Putin), and the trifecta from hell of Clinton, Blair, and Bush for their mass murders in Iraq. <crickets chirping> Well, first paint their faces to be a shade of brown and it might happen, but not before.

I have a solution that will satisfy all major players. By modern (that is to say, false) standards Bashir, a typically modern opportunist leader (who I don't like), can argue that he is simply carrying out a "war on terror". The Darfur rebels -- primarily the Justice & Equality Movement -- are an Islamic terrorist movement with links to al-Qa`idah (by way of Hasan at-Turabi). So, any mass killings are thus instantly made acceptable in the eyes of the world powers.

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, dismissed Ismail Haneya from the PM post in 2007

but Haneya disputes his authority to do so:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ismail_Haniyeh

so I think that's the 'deposing' it's referring to.

The violence in Darfur has been largely directed at civilians, on a huge scale. Only Putin in Chechnya might approach the level of directed massacres of civilians that Bashir has been in charge of. If the ICC is going after the worst cases, it's either Bashir, or those directing the war in Congo.

[struggle4progress]

16. Sudan expels aid groups after arrest warrant (AP)

By EDITH M. LEDERER – 1 hour ago

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — ... Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the action "represents a serious setback to lifesaving operations in Darfur" and urged Sudan to reverse its decision, U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.

Aid groups protested, saying they had no connection to the court and that their absence could lead to a crisis for for more than 2 million of war-weary Sudanese who need such basics as shelter, food and clean water ...

The non-governmental aid groups ordered out were Oxfam, CARE, MSF-Holland, Mercy Corps, Save the Children, the Norweigan Refugee Council, the International Rescue Committee, Action Contre la Faim, Solidarites and CHF International.

The Sudan Media Center said two Sudanese organizations, the Khartoum Centre for Human Rights and Environmental Development and the Khartoum Amal Center for the Rehabilitation of the Victims of Violence, were also expelled, saying they cooperated with the court ... http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ilNb6rQHo21sTKt0tmilR4UGRNTwD96NKNU00