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Museveni, Kiir Discuss Bashir Fate
Fri, March 13 2009
By Henry Mukasa/The New Vision [Kampala - UGANDA]
Kampala — SUDAN President Omar el-Bashir's arrest should be deferred and tied to progress in the peace process in Darfur, President Yoweri Museveni has said.

Museveni supported the African Union's call for "provisional immunity" for the sake of peace.

The International Criminal Court has issued a warrant of arrest for Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. Bashir denies the charges.

The UN estimates that 300,000 people died and 2.7 million displaced since rebels took up arms in 2003 demanding more resources and power from Khartoum.

Standing side by-by-side with Kiir, Museveni said it would be reasonable to ask the United Nations Security Council to defer the indictment provided the delay was tied to the performance of the peace process.

Museveni said at a time when Burundi was torn apart by war and some leaders were wanted for human rights violations, provisional immunity granted to them pushed the peace process forward.

Museveni said he discussed the indictment with Bashir at the AU summit in Ethiopia.

He said the AU had sent a high powered delegation, led by former South Africa President Thabo Mbeki, to Khartoum and Darfur.

"I don't want to condemn Bashir nor do I want to condone his actions," Museveni said.

But as the AU probes the crimes, he said, other options needed to be weighed because it was complicated to arrest someone who is running a country.

Kiir said the best option was to suspend the indictment since the peace agreements concluded in Sudan could still be executed.

"That's the position of AU: to work for development," Kiir said. "The agreements are there to be implemented, indictment or no indictment."

Asked if he would arrest Bashir on behalf of the ICC if he travelled to the south, where he is the president, Kiir said: "I am not the police of the ICC."

African and Arab countries, along with China and Russia, want the delay of the warrant fearing it will damage the Darfur peace efforts. But the US, the UK and France have rejected the call.

After the warrant was issued, Sudan immediately expelled 13 aid agencies, accusing them of taking 99% of the budget for humanitarian work themselves, and giving the people of Darfur 1%.

He threatened to kick out more foreign workers if they did not obey Sudan's laws. The UN said expelling charities puts more than one million lives at risk.

Commenting on his meeting with Kiir, Museveni said they discussed trade between Uganda, South Sudan and East Africa.

He thanked Kiir for South Sudan's role in brokering the failed peace talks with LRA and its support to the on-going military offensive against the rebels in DRC.

Kiir agreed with Museveni. "There are problems faced by business people which need to be addressed by both sides," he stated.

On Kony, he said: "When Kony decided not to sign the agreed document on November 29, 2008, he opted for the military action."


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---- The authors’ views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of the Ministry of Regional Cooperation or the South Sudan Government. ----

 

 

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