Daily Darfur: More Flip-Flopping on ICC

Published July 15, 2009 @ 03:17AM PT

Confusion continues over Uganda's position on the International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir --- namely, will the government of Uganda arrest Bashir if he accepts an invitation to attend a conference in Kampala later this month?

A Ugandan foreign ministry official made comments at a press conference with ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo earlier this week indicating that the government might honor its commitments under the Rome Statute, but then later retracted the statement in an interview with the Ugandan Daily Monitor.

Now, the Sudanese official news agency (SUNA) is reporting that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni called Bashir to apologize for the incident, assuring him that the statements do not reflect an official position. The Daily Monitor, however, reports that Museveni's press secretary told a news conference that the president will issue a final position on the matter "in the coming days."

Bashir, in the meantime, has yet to confirm his visit. I'm willing to bet that he doesn't risk it.

Bad News

IDPs living in camps around near Jebel Marra in western Darfur are worried about a build up of government troops in the area, and are urging the international community to dissuade Khartoum from launching an attack on nearby rebel bases for fear of the impact on civilians. The Sudan Tribune is also reporting that the government is stocking up on fancy weapons systems from China.

Darfuris calling into Radio Dabanga reported the murder of four IDPs from the Abu Karu camp at the hands of unknown gunmen. Others report that the impact of the NGO expulsions is being sorely felt with the onset of the rainy season.

Quickies

Khartoum is once again criticizing President Obama for referring to Darfur as "genocide," this time in his speech in Ghana on Saturday. But, as Maggie Fick at Enough notes in response to critics of the G-word: "...the use of a term is not what is impeding progress on CPA implementation or peace in Darfur; the actions of the Khartoum regime are stalling progress."

United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operation Alain Le Roy is visiting Darfur.

Kidnappers are demanding a $2 million ransom for the release of two international aid workers abducted in Darfur.

A bit of a tangent: The battle continues over who owns the rights to the photo used in the famous Obama "Hope" poster --- the photo of the then-senator was taken at a Darfur event.

[Photo: President Museveni (l) with Sudan's Bashir (r) at the recently ended AU summit in Addis.]

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Comments (4)

Hi Michelle - you might want to keep track of our new blog at The Independent magazine in Kampala. It's called Uganda Talks and we've been first with most of the ICC confusion over the past couple of weeks.

The URL: http://www.independent.co.ug/index.php/uganda-talks

Posted by Joe Powell on 07/16/2009 @ 04:57AM PT
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Excellent -- thanks for passing on the link.

Posted by Michelle . on 07/16/2009 @ 04:44PM PT
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The ICC in Uganda is a tragic comedy... please read

Waiting for Bashir: Surprises Abound When ICC Law is Applied

to see just how convoluted this ICC thing is... Justice for Who? [http://ugandagenocide.info/?p=1527]

Posted by Eric S. on 07/16/2009 @ 02:00PM PT
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Obama and Gration need to hurry up and learn that negotiating with al-Bashir is a dead end that is only buying the GoS time.

Posted by Eric . on 07/17/2009 @ 10:43AM PT
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Michelle became involved in the anti-genocide cause at a young age, and has been involved in various activist endeavors, including the Teach Against Genocide pilot campaigns, ever since.