President al-Bashir of Sudan, who was charged last week with masterminding a
campaign of rape and genocide in Darfur, flew into the war-ravaged region
yesterday, claiming the role of peacemaker and revelling in a hero's welcome
from his supporters.
Waving his cane in the air, Mr al-Bashir climbed on to a rickety desk before
thousands of cheering men and wailing women who had gathered in the town of
El Fasher, North Darfur, to hear him speak.
First they had to watch him dance. The President's face broke into a wide
smile and he jiggled from side to side as a pop song praising his virtues
boomed from speakers all around the dusty bowl. “We are for peace and the
President/ Bashir is our leader,” the jangling chorus went. Around him
Zaghawa tribesmen on camels raised their whips in approval.
Mr al-Bashir faces ten charges brought by the International Criminal Court
(ICC) relating to an alleged campaign of extermination against three Darfur
tribes. His two-day tour of the region was being promoted as a peace
mission, however, and he told his audience that the ICC had no right to
investigate him.
“They attack us with false allegations,” he said. “We want to send this
message to the world: we are the people of peace, we want peace ... we are
the only ones who can achieve peace in Darfur. Every time we take a step
forward, make progress and signs of peace emerge, those people try to mess
it up, return us to square one and distract us with marginal issues and
false allegations.”
The President acknowledged that people in Darfur were facing injustice and
said that all political parties were welcome at peace talks. “I am committed
to solving the problems of Darfur by providing security,” he added. He also
promised schools, electricity and roads for one of the country's most
underdeveloped areas.
There were no threats against foreigners or anti-Western rhetoric, although
watching diplomats said that the message had still to be matched by action.
More than two million people live in aid camps here after five years of a
conflict that has claimed 300,000 lives, according to the latest United
Nations estimate.
The visit to Darfur — the President's first for a year — is the
latest move to shore up his position against prosecution for his role in the
carnage. The charges were brought by the ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo,
and judges at the court now have to decide whether to issue warrants for his
arrest.
The Sudanese Government has been trying to gather support at the UN Security
Council for a resolution suspending any such warrants. Aid workers and UN
staff had feared a violent response to the charges, but instead Sudanese
officials have been working the diplomatic channels to find allies among
Arab and African states.
A Western diplomatic source in Khartoum said: “The rhetoric has been managed
and the demonstrations haven't got out of hand while the political
manoeuvring is under way. You have to say, he's played a blinder.”
Salva Kiir, the South Sudanese President who is also the No2 in the national
Government, urged the ICC on Tuesday to delay any warrant for Mr al-Bashir.
“We should have time to consult the rest of Africa and the world,” he said
on a trip to Uganda. “The Sudanese Government should be allowed to implement
the accord signed with the South Sudan Government and to negotiate with the
fighting forces in Darfur.”
Foreign diplomats, including the British Ambassador, were invited to join the
tour on the presidential jet with Mr al-Bashir. On landing Mr al-Bashir,
dressed in a khaki safari suit, bounded down the steps of his aircraft to
the strains of a military band.
He was greeted by town elders who released three doves in his honour — but
rather than soaring into the air they flapped to the ground and waddled
slowly away. For most of the day the President was surrounded by heavy
security. Members of his elite guard kept journalists from getting too close
and he ignored any questions, staring straight ahead.
To the elders, though, he was all smiles. A succession of leaders from the
Zaghawa, Fur and Masalit tribes publicly professed their allegiance to the
President — even though each came from a people that has spawned rebel
armies.
Mr al-Bashir's entourage kept far away from the sprawling aid camps on the
outskirts of El Fasher where more than 100,000 people live.
There they would have found vocal opposition to the Government and support for
the rebel armies. They would have heard stories of people being burnt out of
their homes by the Arab Janjawid militia or being bombed by government
Antonov aircraft.
Instead, the crowd that assembled to hear their leader came from
government-controlled areas. “We can't say that we support everything the
President does,” said Mohamed al-Amin, wearing a bright white jalabiya and
loose turban. “But we wanted to come here to show our support and to oppose
the ICC.”
Mr al-Bashir flew on to the southern Darfuri capital of Nyala in the evening
and is due to fly to El Geneina in West Darfur today before returning to
Khartoum.
Crimes against humanity
Omar al-Bashir faces charges of genocide over the deaths of members of the
Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups, causing serious mental harm, and
“deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about their
physical destruction in part”
Other charges cite crimes against humanity, including murder, torture and
rapes, and war crimes for intentionally directing attacks against the
civilian population
The International Criminal Court has issued warrants for Sudan's State
Minister, Ahmed Haroun, and the militia leader Ali Kushayb
Darfuri rebels took up arms in 2003, many of them coming from the settled
farming tribes. The Government responded by arming the Janjawid, recruited
from the region's Arab herders
The most powerful rebel grouping is the Justice and Equality Movement, which
attacked Khartoum in May
Sudan's conflict between the north and south claimed two million lives from
1983 to 2005. A peace accord was signed three years ago, but hundreds have
died in continued clashes
Source: International Criminal Court, agencies
