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January 16, 2006
Sudan: Islamist Dictator May Head African Union
It is currently being rumoured that the dictator of Sudan, Omar Hassan A. al-Bashir, will be chosen to be head of the African Union. This has caused widespread condemnation, with a letter of protest co-signed by 50 human rights groups and non-governmental organisations, states Reuters AlertNet and the UK Independent and South Africa's Star.
The letter has been sent on Monday to all the leaders of nations on the continent. Currently the rotating chair of the AU is held by Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo, whose tenure comes to an end next week.
The main thrust of the letter was that as 61-year old Bashir could not control the situation in Darfur, in the west of Sudan, then he is unfit to deal with the needs of the African continent as a whole.
Reuters points out the irony of having a Sudanese holding the AU chairmanship from 2006 to 2007, as currently the AU has a 7,000 person mission observing events in Darfur. Having the chairperson's country being investigated by the same organisation would be awkward, and according to UK analyst Patrick Smith, "pretty much unprecedented".
The letter claimed that Darfur's track record of human rights in Darfur was one of the world's worst, and claimed that the government of Bashir was viewed as partly responsible for the crisis there.
The letter said Khartoum and its allied "Janjaweed" militia still held civilians hostage, blocked access to parts of Darfur and obstructed the work of relief agencies. Sudan undermined many AU agreements to bring peace to Darfur, the groups added.There are rumours that Bashir's nomination has been part-sponsored by South Africa, but its government refuses to comment, though its Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said that any decision on the chairmanship would be chosen by the continent, not by one nation.
Saturday's Guardian claimed that Jan Pronk, a senior UN envoy, declared on Friday that peace efforts in the region have failed. He has called for all the militias in the region to be disarmed, and demands a force of up to 20,000 UN troops to achieve this and provide security. There are currently 2 million displaced individuals living in refugee conditions in western Sudan.
In a true African tradition, Bashir came to power in 1989 through a coup. For most of the past two decades he engaged in a campaign of attrition against the mainly non-Muslim south. This campaign only came to an official end in January 2005, when a historic peace deal was signed with the south. The conflict over its 21 years cost 2 million lives.
Keywords: Omar . al-Bashir, Omar Hassan A. al-Bashier, Omar el-Bashir
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at January 16, 2006 11:47 PM
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