Sudan Welcomes U.S. Special Envoy

Sudan Welcomes U.S. Special Envoy

*The Sudan, A Saga of Genocide and Enslavement....The Sudan Slave Story

(NSI News Source Info) Khartoum - April 5, 2009:The Sudanese government welcomed the decision by the U.S. to send a new special envoy to Khartoum, a representative of the Sudanese leader said on Friday. U.S. special envoy Scott Gration, who arrived in Sudan on Thursday, said he hoped for friendship and cooperation from Khartoum. "We welcome the U.S. idea to send a special representative to Sudan, but only if he has come here with an open heart," Awad Ahmed al-Jaz told a news conference. He added that previously U.S. envoys had distorted the situation in the country or made the wrong decisions. "We hope that things will be different now," he said. Gration said on Thursday: "I come here with my hands open. And it will be up to the Sudanese government to determine how they want to continue with the relationship. Hopefully it will be with hands of friendship and cooperation." He appealed for stronger relations with Sudan, whose president, Omar al-Bashir, is accused of war crimes in Darfur. "The United States and Sudan want to be partners and so we are looking for opportunities for us to build a stronger bilateral relationship," he said. The International Criminal Court has accused al-Bashir of criminal responsibility for "intentionally directing attacks against an important part of the civilian population of Darfur, Sudan, murdering, exterminating, raping, torturing and forcibly transferring large numbers of civilians, and pillaging their property." Bashir expelled 13 international aid groups from Darfur after the International Criminal Court issued the warrant for him on March 4. Al-Jaz said the Sudanese authorities would not allow these groups to return to the country "This decision is final and will not be reviewed," he said.

North Korea Is Third In Economic Disparity After Zimbabwe (Robert Mugabe) and Sudan (Omar al Bashir)

North Korea Is Third In Economic Disparity After Zimbabwe (Robert Mugabe) and Sudan (Omar al Bashir)

(NSI News Source Info) April 2, 2009: Last Fall, the North Korean government sought to control the growing importance of the free markets, by restricting how often they could be open, and what goods they could sell. These new rules have largely been ignored.

Conservative protesters holding portraits of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il shout slogans during an anti-North Korea rally denouncing the North's missile threat, near the U.S. embassy in Seoul March 30, 2009. The United States plans to deploy two missile-interceptor ships from South Korea on Monday, a military spokesman said, days ahead of a North Korean rocket launch seen by many as a test of its longest-range missile.

The police assigned to monitor the markets were simply ignored, or bribed. No one higher up in the security services bothered to press the issue, another indicator of how essential the free markets have become amid North Korea's crumbling economy. The torture has been known about for many years, because some of the North Korea escaping into China had been in the work camps, or had kin who had, and it was common knowledge in the north. The "torture" is usually physical punishment (not an attempt to obtain information), and meant to intimidate the population and instill fear. The UN dispensed with its usually diplomatic approach and openly accused North Korea of torturing thousands of prisoners in work camps, and denying over a third of the population food aid. Several weeks ago, North Korea told the U.S. to halt food shipments, and ordered five foreign aid groups that supervised the distribution of food aid, to leave North Korea. This sort of self-destructive behavior has been used before to get attention, and obtain other goals (diplomatic or material). But of late, things are bizarre even by North Korean standards. There appears to be a power struggle and debate going on within the North Korea leadership. Not many details are getting out, and the recent punishments meted out to some senior officials who gossiped about the activities of the most senior officials, has caused usually reliable sources to clam up. There is growing hunger in many parts of the country, which is made worse by the military going out and taking food from farmers. The troops are not as well fed as they used to be, and they often suffered, along with the civilians, from power and fuel shortages this past Winter. For years, Kim Jong Il was rated (by using various rankings of national problems and achievement) the worst ruler on the planet. But this year, Kim Jong Il came in third place, behind Zimbabwe (Robert Mugabe) and Sudan (Omar al Bashir). Things haven't gotten any better in North Korea, they've just gotten much worse in Zimbabwe and Sudan. The North Korean media show, featuring a threatened ballistic missile launch, continues. China seems unconcerned, but all of North Korea's other neighbors have urged that the launch be scrapped. Both Japan and the U.S. have moved Aegis equipped warships to the North Korea coast. These vessels have weapons that can shoot down the North Korean missile. The U.S. said it will not do so, but the Japanese say they will. North Korea says that would be considered an act of war. South Korea and Japan insist that the North Korean launch violates UN sanctions. The entire affair is yet another effort by North Korea to remain in the headlines. March 20, 2009: For the second time in two weeks, North Korea has closed its border with South Korea. This meant that trade with the South Korean industrial zone in North Korea was interrupted. As before, the border was opened after a day or two. March 17, 2009: Two American journalists were seized by North Korea border guards, as the two women photographed activity in North Korea from the Chinese side of the border. The North Korea guards crossed the border and dragged the women into North Korea, after the women, ignored orders to put their cameras away. North Korea later said the two Americans would be tried for spying. The U.S. will have to trade something valuable to get these two back, which is why North Korea grabbed them in the first place.

Sudan Envoy To Visit Moscow To discuss al-Bashir Arrest Warrant

Sudan Envoy To Visit Moscow To discuss al-Bashir Arrest Warrant

(NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW - April 1, 2009: The special envoy for the leader of Sudan will arrive in Moscow on a two-day visit on April 2 to discuss President Omar al-Bashir's arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, as well as Sudanese-Russian relations. Russia has joined Arab countries in criticizing the arrest warrant for al-Bashir, who faces charges of war crimes in committed in Darfur, saying the ongoing dispute threatens to harm relations between the West and the Arab world. Envoy Awad Ahmed al-Jaz, who is also Sudan's finance minister, is expected to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Mikhail Margelov, who heads the Federation Council's foreign affairs committee and is the president's special representative on Sudan. The envoy will also deliver a message from President al-Bashir to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. The Sudanese president is currently in Qatar for the ongoing Arab League summit. In a draft communique issued on Monday, the Arab leaders said they considered the warrant to be in violation of the 1961 Vienna agreement. The International Criminal Court accuses al-Bashir of criminal responsibility for "intentionally directing attacks against an important part of the civilian population of Darfur, Sudan, murdering, exterminating, raping, torturing and forcibly transferring large numbers of civilians, and pillaging their property." The warrant is the first ever to have been issued by the ICC for a serving head of state.

Sudan: Defiant President Omar Hassan al-Bashir In Doha Ahead Of Arab Summit Monday / Sudan Leader Thanks Arab Summit For Support

Sudan: Defiant President Omar Hassan al-Bashir In Doha Ahead Of Arab Summit Monday / Sudan Leader Thanks Arab Summit For Support

(NSI News Source Info) March 30, 2009: Sudan's embattled President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is in Qatar's capital, Doha ahead of an Arab Summit scheduled to begin today despite an arrest warrant against him issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The summit, however, is expected to support President Bashir officially over the ICC-issued directive despite deep divisions in the Arab world over the indictment. Some political observers believe Qatar will not enforce the arrest warrant since it is not a signatory to the ICC charter establishing the court. The Hague-based international court issued the arrest warrant after Bashir was accused of masterminding war crimes in Darfur. Claude Salhani is the editor of the Middle East Times newspaper. He tells reporter Peter Clottey that President Bashir's presence tarnishes the significance of the Arab summit. "It is going to be an interesting meeting, especially given the fact that the Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon is going to be present at this meeting. And he will attend this Monday's session in the presence of Mr. Bashir, and that is going to be an embarrassing moment for Ban Ki-moon. Other than that, I think the Arab League seems to be divided, nothing new in this sense over the issue of Bashir. Some are supporting him, others are not. What's interesting is Mubarak (Egypt's president) is not going to attend this meeting, although he had hosted Bashir a few days ago," Salhani noted. He said the motivations behind the support of Bashir over the ICC arrest warrant could be attributed to several reasons including noncooperation. "It seems that some are making a stance and some are saying like Colonel Gaddafi of Libya for example said that this is an attempt by west to re-colonize their former colonies. He has always got something interesting to say, and he called it a practice of first-world terrorism. So this is a sign of defiance, I guess. On the one hand, I think Qatar is in a peculiar situation, where as the host of this meeting, it would have been hard for them to say no to President Bashir. But on the other hand, Qatar is not a signatory. They haven't signed a charter, which obliges member states to arrest those indicted once they land on their territory. So they get off the hook that way," he said. Salhani said if an Arab League member country has not signed the charter establishing the ICC, it is under no obligation to enforce the arrest warrant against Sudan's President Bashir. "First of all they have to be signatories of the charter. I don't think all of them are. So it depends on if they have signed the declaration of the charter. Then they are obliged by international law to abide by the ruling and to arrest those indicted by the International Criminal Court. But as long as they haven't signed, it's up to the individual leader of that country to decide whether he wants to follow the international ruling or not. He is under no international obligation to do so," Salhani pointed out. He said President Bashir's presence will undermine the importance of the Arab summit in Doha. "In a way it is disadvantage that Mr. Bashir is going to be in Qatar because he is going to take away some of the spotlight on the real issues, and I'm not saying this is not important. But I'm saying for the Arab world, there are some much more urgent matters that they need to discuss and focus on rather than the presence or not of one particular man. Because the presence of President Bashir is not going to change anything in global geo-politics, whereas decisions made on the ground there can change things in the Middle East," he said. This is Bashir's fourth international trip after the ICC issued an arrest warrant against him accusing him of being the brain behind the massacre of Darfuris in the troubled Darfur region. He arrived in Qatar Sunday, after visits to neighboring Egypt, Eritrea, and Libya last week. Some in the Arab world including Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi have sharply denounced the arrest warrant, describing it as an orchestration by western countries to re-colonize the Middle East and adding that it amounts to first-world terrorism. Experts believe that up to 300-thousand people have died and 2.7 million driven from their homes in the Darfur conflict since 2003. According to the joint UN- African Union peacekeeping mission, currently around 15-thousand strong is deployed in Darfur, but its forces remain under-equipped, and it has been attacked by warring factions. The United Nations and humanitarian workers say Sudan's order to expel the 13 aid groups, including Oxfam GB and CARE International punches a giant hole in the safety net that has kept many Darfur civilians alive during six years of war in the vast, arid region of western Sudan. The ICC accuses Bashir of leading a counterinsurgency against Darfur rebels that involves rapes, killings, and other atrocities against civilians. Bashir rejects the charges and refuses to deal with the ICC. Arab and African countries are pressing the UN Security Council to defer any prosecution for at least a year, hoping to defuse the crisis. They contend that the move will worsen conditions on the ground and put in jeopardy the lives of people living in Darfur. Khartoum expelled 13 of the largest aid groups operating in Darfur as part of its defiant response to the International Criminal Court's decision to issue an arrest warrant. The Bashir government accuses the agencies of working closely with the ICC.

Libyan Leader Moamer Kadhafi Slams ICC As 'New Form Of World Terrorism'

Libyan Leader Moamer Kadhafi Slams ICC As 'New Form Of World Terrorism'

(NSI News Source Info) ADDIS ABABA - March 29, 2009: Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi lambasted the International Criminal Court on Sunday as representing a "new form of world terrorism" that wanted to recolonise developing countries. Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, seen here on March 11, recently elected chairman of the 53-nation African Union, said Sunday that the International Criminal Court represented a "new form of world terrorism". "It is a known fact that all Third World countries are opposing the so-called ICC," the recently elected chairman of the 53-nation African Union told a press conference at the AU headquarters here. "This is the case right now. This court is against the countries colonised in the past and they want to recolonise now. It is a practice of a new world terrorism that is not below the standard of the other terrorism." Kadhafi's condemnation followed a call by Arab foreign ministers on Saturday on the Hague-based ICC to annul its arrest warrant against Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir. "It is not fair that a head of state should be arrested," he said. "If we allow such a thing... we should also try those who killed hundreds and millions of children in Iraq and in Gaza." The ICC issued a warrant for Beshir arrest earlier this month, accusing him of crimes against humanity and war crimes in the western Sudanese region of Darfur. Many African and Arab states along with key ally China have condemned the ICC move and called for the warrant to be suspended. Beshir faces five counts of crimes against humanity and two of war crimes. He is the first sitting president to be issued with a warrant by the ICC. The AU has argued that the prosecution jeopardised peace efforts in Sudan and on March 18 chided the UN Security Council for ignoring its requests to defer the warrant. The bloc's Peace and Security Commissioner Ramtane Lamamra said they were awaiting a decision on the issue by Arab leaders due to their start their annual summit Sunday to make a united move. "We are about to set up a high-level delegation to go to New York to lobby the UN Security Council," Lamamra said. Beshir himself has made foreign trips to Eritrea, Egypt and Libya since the March 4 ICC arrest warrant. The ICC, the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal, does not have a police force and calls on signatory states to implement warrants. None of the three countries Beshir visited are parties to the court's statute. Kadhafi is to leave Addis Ababa later Sunday for the Arab summit in Doha. It is still unclear whether Beshir will attend the two-day meeting. Beshir is the first sitting president to be issued with a warrant by the ICC. The United Nations says 300,000 people have died in the six-year-long conflict between Darfur's ethnic minority rebels and the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum, which puts the figure at only 10,000. An estimated 2.7 million people more have fled their homes.

U.S. Officials Say Israeli Warplanes Bombed Convoy Of Trucks In Sudan

U.S. Officials Say Israeli Warplanes Bombed Convoy Of Trucks In Sudan

(NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON - March 28, 2009: Israeli warplanes bombed a convoy of trucks in Sudan in January that was believed to be carrying arms to be smuggled into Gaza, American officials say. An Israeli government spokesman, Mark Regev, said Israel would not comment, The Associated Press reported. But the departing prime minister, Ehud Olmert, hinted that Israel had carried out the strikes. ‘‘We operate everywhere where we can hit terror infrastructure,’’ he said in a speech Thursday, without directly mentioning Sudan. Reuters reported Friday that Sudan now believed Israel was behind two attacks on convoys that killed up to 40 people in the remote north of the country in January and February. ‘‘The first thought is that it was the Americans that did it,’’ said a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ali al-Sadig, according to Reuters. ‘‘We contacted the Americans and they categorically denied they were involved. We are still trying to verify it. Most probably it involved Israel.’’ Intelligence analysts noted that the strike was consistent with other measures Israel has taken to secure its borders. U.S. officials said the airstrike took place as Israel sought to stop the flow of weapons to Gaza during the weeks it was fighting a war with Hamas there. Two U.S. officials who are privy to classified intelligence assessments said that Iran had been involved in the effort to smuggle weapons to Gaza. They also noted that there had been intelligence reports that an operative with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps had gone to Sudan to coordinate the effort. The Sudanese said the reports emerged now because it took time to fully investigate the strike. But an accusation from one government official that the attack was an American act of genocide raised the possibility that the Sudanese were lashing out because the International Criminal Court had issued a warrant for the arrest of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on war crimes charges in the conflict in Darfur. The U.S. officials who described the Israeli role declined to be identified because they were discussing classified information and were not authorized to speak for the Obama administration. A U.S. military official said the January strike was one of a series of Israeli attacks against arms shipments bound for Gaza.

Sudan's al-Bashir To Visit Darfur / Sudanese President Bashir Arrives In North Darfur

Sudan's al-Bashir To Visit Darfur / Sudanese President Bashir Arrives In North Darfur

(NSI News Source Info) Khartoum - March 9, 2009: Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Sunday will attend a rally in Darfur, the western Sudanese region where he stands accused of complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir (2nd, L) inspects troops upon his arrival at Fashir, capital city of North Darfur state, March 8, 2009. Bashir said Sunday in Fashir, capital city of North Darfur state, that the country will fight against "neocolonialism".

The Sudanese Ministry of Information said al-Bashir will attend a rally in al-Fashir, the capital of Sudan's North Darfur province and the site of sprawling camps where tens of thousands of people displaced by fighting in the area have gathered for aid hand-outs. The planned visit is a further sign of al-Bashir's defiance in the face of a warrant for his arrest issued by the International Criminal Court last week. The Sudanese president appeared at a rally on Saturday brandishing a traditional Sudanese spear and defended his decision to expel 13 international aid organisations on the grounds that they were "spies" and "thieves." "If people want to fight us... they should come here and fight us face to face," al-Bashir said. He said he would not let the arrest warrant "sabotage peace" between northern Sudan and the south. "Nobody will die in the south. We will not fight each other," he told supporters gathered for a fourth day of mass demonstrations in his support. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussam, visiting al-Bashir at his presidential palace in Khartoum on Saturday, pledged the Arab League's support for the Sudanese president. "The Arab League will continue to try to defuse the crisis," Moussa said, adding that the 22-member body would send a delegation to lobby members of the UN Security Council to suspend the warrant.

World Court Issues Arrest Warrant For Sudan's Bashir / Arrest Warrant Will Harden Sudan Regime / Sudan Leader Appeals For Calm Ahead Of ICC Verdict

World Court Issues Arrest Warrant For Sudan's Bashir / Arrest Warrant Will Harden Sudan Regime / Southern Sudan Leader Appeals For Calm Ahead Of ICC Verdict

*Omar al-Bashir is the first sitting president to be indicted for crimes against humanity and war crimes. Critics worry the move could destabilize the country.

(NSI News Source Info) March 5, 2009: Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir on Wednesday became the first sitting head of state to be charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. At a press conference held at The Hague, Netherlands, The International Criminal Court (ICC) announced its indictment of Mr. Bashir for a range of crimes, including the deliberate attempt to destroy ethnic groups deemed to be supporting rebel factions in Sudan's troubled Darfur region. In this Sunday, Dec. 9, 2007 file photo, Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, foreground left, gestures as he arrives for an EU Africa Summit in Lisbon. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant Wednesday, March 4, 2009, for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. He is the first sitting head of state the court has ordered arrested. "He is suspected of being criminally responsible ... for intentionally directing attacks against an important part of the civilian population of Darfur, Sudan; murdering, exterminating, raping, torturing, and forcibly transferring large numbers of civilians, and pillaging their property," said ICC spokeswoman Laurence Blairon. The three-judge panel said there was insufficient evidence to support the more controversial charges of genocide, however. Nearly 300,000 Darfuris have died in the past six years of conflict, either in combat or through starvation and premature death due to displacement. The United Nations estimates that nearly 2.5 million Darfuris have been forced to flee their homes because of the fighting. Bashir's government denies ordering the deliberate murder of civilians in Darfur, and says that the death toll is much lower than the UN and the ICC estimates. "This is a significant step for the hundreds of thousands of victims of conflict in the past six years," says Ariela Blatter, senior director for international programs at Amnesty International in Washington. "The fact that the ICC issued an arrest warrant for a sitting head of state is a signal to Bashir that there is no 'get out of jail free card here.' " The indictment comes at a time of great political instability in Sudan. Darfur rebels are expanding their operations into neighboring states as the country prepares for crucial national elections this year. And relations between Khartoum and the semiautonomous southern portion of Sudan are coming under increasing strain. Campaigning for his National Congress Party (NCP) outside Khartoum on Tuesday, President Bashir discounted the importance of the ICC's looming decision, saying that the Court could "eat" the indictment. Vice President Salva Kiir, a former southern rebel leader who now shares power with Bashir in a coalition government, struck a more conciliatory line. "In the event of the court agreeing with the chief prosecutor," Mr. Kiir said on Tuesday, "the [Sudan People's Liberation Movement] will work with its partners in the NCP on how to politically and diplomatically handle the decision of the court." He urged the international community to remain engaged in Sudan, whatever the decision, warning, "The collapse of peace in Sudan shall not only hurt the Sudan itself, but shall also have serious repercussions in the region." Beset by a north-south civil war for nearly 20 years, which claimed millions of lives, Bashir ended it in 2003 by signing a comprehensive peace accord and agreeing to share power in a coalition government with the southern rebel movement, the Sudanese People's Liberation Army. Despite Mr. Kiir's reassuring words, some experts worry that the peace deal could be dealt a fatal blow, as well as similar peace talks with Darfur rebels, if SPLA leaders deem Bashir's government to be on its way out. For this reason, leaders of the African Union and the Arab League have been working furiously to persuade the United Nations Security Council to encourage the international court to delay its indictment and arrest warrant for at least a year. This, many African leaders believe, would give enough time for current peace talks with Darfur-based rebels to begin to bear fruit. But human rights groups insist the world should support the ICC's ruling. "The international community should affirm its support for the court and insist that Sudan and other countries cooperate with it as required by the UN Security Council," says Nick Grono, deputy president of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group.

African Leaders Talk Tough On Darfur War Crimes

African Leaders Talk Tough On Darfur War Crimes (NSI News Source Info) Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - February 8, 2009: African leaders on Wednesday supported a plan to delay the execution of an arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir, but asked him to take steps to end rights violations in Darfur.

The African leaders went beyond words and asked the Sudanese leader to accept a team of lawyers from the African Union (AU) and the Arab League to help bring perpetrators of the violence in Darfur and help carry out investigations there.

In this photo released by the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) soldiers parade during the fourth anniversary celebrations of the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, ending more than two decades of civil war, in Malakal, southern Sudan, Friday, Jan. 9, 2009. Sudan's embattled president marked the fourth anniversary of a fragile peace between the country's north and south, promising on Friday to restore confidence in national unity even as he faces accusations by an international court for war crimes in Darfur.

Former South African President Thabo Mbeki is expected to lead a panel of lawyers to investigate human rights violations in Darfur and recommend measures to be taken against the perpetrators.

African leaders made an attempt to rescue President el-Bashir from an impending arrest by the International Criminal Court (ICC) but the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon distanced himself from the move.

The UN Secretary-General who attended the meeting of the African leaders, said the issuance of an arrest warrant if the ICC decides on the matter, was solely an issue that he could not interfere with and asked Sudan to fully cooperate.

The African leaders said steps must be taken to address human rights violations in Darfur and reiterated calls made by the AU that the Sudan must take concrete steps to investigate the human rights violations in Darfur and stop abuses.

African leaders were adamant on the need to have a year-long stay of the arrest warrant to allow for the setting up of an independent justice system for Darfur.

They agreed to support Sudan to set an independent system of dealing with the ab uses as a substitute for the ICC process.

"We just adopted the resolutions asking for the recall of the decision," African Union Commission Chairperson Jean Ping told a news conference at the end of the four-day meeting of the African leaders, one of the longest meetings held by the leaders to try to solve a set of issues.

The AU announced ahead of the Summit that it was taking immediate steps to seek a delay of the execution of an arrest warrant against the Sudanese leader for at least 12 months under certain parts of the ICC statute.

The delay would allow for the putting in place of a mechanism to try Darfur war crimes suspects.

"The suspension we were asking for was recalled," Ping said in a brief answer to a question on whether the African leaders considered the issue of rescuing the Sudanese leader from the ICC arrest warrant.

Ban said the Sudanese leader must cooperate with the ICC on his case and ensure the protection of the civilians, the foreign troops in Darfur and ensure the "faithful" implementation of the north-south peace accord.

The new AU Chairman Muammar Kadhafi said the Sudanese leader must fully cooperate in the search for a solution to the Darfurian crisis.

The Libyan leader said he would take over the issue of the crisis in Darfur during his chairmanship of the organization, saying the AU remained an organization whose power was mainly drawn from the "social force" that has been pushing African leaders towards political unity.

In his first warning to the Sudanese leader, Kadhafi said the Sudanese government must work to fully conform with the demands and aspirations of the AU.

"Sudan must apply the constitutive Act of the AU. If they violate it, they will be penalized," he said.

In the draft decisions taken at the Summit, the African leaders had suggested that the UN Security Council should seek a deferment of the arrest warrant to allow the Peace and Security Council of the African Union to examine the crisis in depth through the setting up of a justice panel.