Sudan's president says arrest warrant is conspiracy

Friday 06th March, 07:00 AM JST

KHARTOUM, Sudan —

Sudan’s president, wanted by an international court on war crimes charges, denounced the tribunal, the U.N. and aid agencies on Thursday as part of a new “colonialism” that aims to destabilize his country.

President Omar al-Bashir danced and waved a cane defiantly before thousands of supporters, as the arrest warrant had its first repercussions on the ground. Sudan ordered at least 11 aid agencies to leave Darfur and cease operations in retaliation for the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant. The groups started the process of moving out Thursday.

Aid workers warned that the expulsion order could spark a humanitarian crisis for up to 2 million people in Darfur who are directly served by the agencies, receiving food, shelter and medical supplies.

In Zamzam Camp, one of the largest Darfur refugee camps, residents said aid workers who operate daily in the camps did not show up on Thursday. Refugees said they were now feared what will happen when their most recent monthly delivery of food and other supplies run out if aid workers don’t return. Particularly worrisome is the pullout of health workers, and the possibility of disease outbreaks in the upcoming rainy season.

“After God, we only have the organizations” to help us, said Zamzam camp resident Ibrahim Safi, 34. He called the expulsion order a “catastrophe.”

Speaking for the first time since the warrant was issued Wednesday, al-Bashir told a Cabinet meeting that those agencies, the U.N. and the tribunal are “tools of the new colonialism” meant to bring Sudan and its resources under control.

Al-Bashir accused the aid organizations of trying to disrupt peace efforts in Darfur, profiting from the conflict and interfering with foreign investment. He said his government ordered them out of Darfur because they violated the law.

“We in Sudan have always been a target of the U.N. and these organizations because we have said, ‘No,’” al-Bashir said. “We said the resources of Sudan should go to the people of Sudan.”

Hasabo Abdel-Rahman, the head of the government agency coordinating humanitarian affairs, also accused the aid groups cooperating with the ICC and offering the court “false” testimonies.

At least 2.7 million people in the large, arid region of western Sudan have been driven from their homes, most to camps in Darfur and neighboring Chad, in the war between Darfur rebels and the government since 2003. Even many who remain in their homes depend on international aid to survive.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the order “a serious setback to lifesaving operations in Darfur.” The aid groups, which included Oxfam, CARE and Save the Children, protested that they had nothing to do with the Netherlands-based ICC’s decision.

Medecins Sans Frontieres, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said its French branch was ordered expelled—a day after its Dutch section received the order to stop operating in Darfur. U.N. agencies were expected to continue working in Darfur. But it was unclear how the expulsion orders would affect supply distribution, since much of the U.N. humanitarian supplies are given to aid agencies to deliver.

“The impact is going to be huge. We were assisting 600,000 people in parts in Darfur with lifesaving activities like water and food distribution,” said Bea Spadacini, a Kenya-based spokeswoman for CARE. She said CARE’s 650 employees in Sudan, a majority of which are Sudanese, stopped working Wednesday after the government revoked its license.

In the capital, Khartoum, senior U.N. officials were meeting with government officials, trying to negotiate a deal to stay.

Al-Bashir, who faces charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, is accused by the ICC of overseeing an anti-insurgency campaign in Darfur in which atrocities were carried out against civilians. At least 300,000 people have died in Darfur in the fighting, which pits ethnic African rebels against the Arab-led Khartoum government and Arab militiamen.

Appearing before tens of thousands of supporters at a Khartoum rally Thursday after the Cabinet meeting, al-Bashir warned international missions and organizations still operating the country “to respect themselves,” saying they would be “humiliated” if they infringe on Sudan’s sovereignty.

Al-Bashir danced with the cheering crowd outside his Republican Palace in the biggest demonstration in Sudan in years. “We are ready to resist colonialism,” he said, jabbing his cane in the air as he spoke. “We are ready to defend our religion.”

The arrest warrant is the ICC’s first against a sitting head of state. Al-Bashir has rejected the charges and his government has said it will not cooperate with the court. U.N. officials said their staff will continue to deal with al-Bashir in Sudan because he remains the president of the country.

Aid workers from the targeted groups said staff were in the process of leaving Darfur. One U.N. official said the process is taking time in some cases because of security procedures. The workers and official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

International groups might have drawn the president’s ire in part by repeatedly criticizing China, which buys two-thirds of Sudan’s petroleum exports, for not using its economic leverage to apply more pressure on al-Bashir’s government.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a news conference Thursday that China backs a call by the African Union and Arab countries to have any prosecution of al-Bashir deferred.

Many in Darfur fear that Khartoum will lash out in retaliation for the warrant, increasing violence in the region. Observers also worry the warrant could hike tensions in Sudan’s other main conflict, between north and south, straining a fragile peace deal in place since 2005.

Al-Bashir on Thursday warned anyone who tries to help the ICC arrest him.

“We will act as a responsible government,” he said. “But we will be responsible and firm with anyone who tries to get at the stability, security in the country or whoever uses their position and presence in Sudan to violate the law, stability and security.”

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6 Comments

Triumvere at 01:25 PM JST - 6th March

Yes, a vicious conspiricy to end ethinic cleansing! To bad the conspirators don't have the balls to actually serve the warrant.
unscrejects at 01:34 PM JST - 6th March

Triumvere: Do you have any idea how those people ended up camped in Darfur? I'm asking because the Clooney's an' all seem to see this as a story that has no cause nor beginning.
elbudamexicano at 05:31 PM JST - 6th March

This so called "president" is more like a dictator and he should be hung by his so called Arab balls!
Triumvere at 06:24 PM JST - 6th March

unscreject,

Enlighten me. Also, in the process, would you kindly explain how it justifies the targeted program of rape and genocide which the gov't of Sudan has unleashed against them.
Madverts at 07:41 PM JST - 6th March

I doubt JT's only Mugabe supporter will have an answer to that one, Triumvere.
unscrejects at 10:53 PM JST - 8th March

Madverts and Triumvere. Verts first: I'M not a Mugabe supporter. The difference between myself and the rest of you is that I live in a world of all the pieces. I don't speak for what has happened today only or what some government secret service office has fed the press - I saw the plot against Zimbabwe (a country that banished me 23 years ago) unfold. The plotters had no idea I was Zimbabwean by birth - it's impossible for me to buy any of the crap they put out on Mugabe. The man is only defending his country regardless of what you see. I see the problem of them trying to topple Mugabe in 1997 over Congo resources and tax evasion in Zimbabwe. I also see the British offering Mazda $32 million to join its coup - in 1997. How can I just ignore all that stuff? Maybe you could... Triumvere: Go back to the signing of the peace treaty in south Sudan. You probably don't remember the strange and sudden death of the south's leader - Ugandan Helicopter crash (but no conspiracy theories hey?). You'll recall that was the time oil was discovered in the south - strangely enough by US missionaries at the same time that three of them had been arrested at Harare airport when 36 weapons of war were found in their baggage (including carry-on luggage). And wasn't it odd for those men of god to persuade the Christian south to make peace with its muslim enemy in the north? Oh and let's not forget the sudden airlift of all those so-called lost boys - to the US to start new lives once the war ended. Do you recall the aid 'agencies' forcing a mass migration of the non-combatants from the south? Do you recall the very same migrating people being led by the same agencies into eastern Chad? Do you recall Chad threatening all-out war if they were not turned back? And do you recall that when Chad shot a few hundred the rest ignored the agencies and fled back across the border into Sudan - where the locals in that area forced them out towards the north - DARFUR. Do you recall the aid agencies begging their governments for emergency help? If this is too hard for you to remember, just google and see what you stir up. The culprit in Darfur isn't Kartum. It's a mockery of the Hague. If you prove me wrong I'll eat your socks.