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Voice of America

Sudanese Vice President Urges U.N. to Reject Arrest Warrants

But Sudanese-born Omer Ismail of the Enough Project says the U.N. should not fall for what he calls Khartoum's blackmail

By: James Butty

Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha has called on the United Nations to reject the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against President Omar al-Bashir for allegedly masterminding a campaign of genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region.

Addressing the ongoing General Assembly session in New York Monday, Mr. Taha said the involvement of the ICC is a threat to the peaceful settlement of the Darfur conflict.

Sudanese-born Omer Ismail, senior policy advisor for the Enough Project, an advocacy organization set up to highlight Darfur crisis, told VOA the international community should not fall for what he called Khartoum’s blackmail.

“The indictment by the International Criminal Court came as a result of the behavior of the government of Sudan and its president, (Mr.) Bashir. So, he’s coming now to blackmail the world basically and saying that the government will either get their way in delaying justice. Otherwise, they are not going to invest a penny in Darfur,” he said.
 

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VOA's co-host Vincent Makori talks to Sasha Lezhnev, Executive Director of the Grassroots Reconciliation Group and co-author of the Enough Project paper on Congo's minerals. Sasha explains how the minerals are fueling conflicts in the region. He also gives the web link to address the problem at: http://www.raisehopeforcongo.org.

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The Obama administration, capping a months-long review process, Monday announced a new strategy of incentives and possible punitive actions to restore peace in Darfur and assure implementation of Sudan's north-south peace accord. Key benchmarks in the Sudanese peace process are approaching including national elections there next April.

The new policy approach was announced by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who cited a sense of urgency, and collective agreement within the Obama administration, on how to bring peace to Darfur and salvage Sudan's troubled Comprehensive Peace Accord, the CPA.

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The Obama administration has announced a new strategy of incentives and possible punitive actions to restore peace in Darfur and assure implementation of Sudan's north-south peace accord. Key benchmarks in the Sudanese peace process are approaching, including national elections next April.

Watch here.

On the second day of her official trip to Africa, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed in Nairobi, Kenya to express U.S. solidarity and support for the besieged transitional government in Mogadishu.

In their first face-to-face meeting, Secretary Clinton and President Sharif met behind closed doors for more than two hours at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi.

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As committees in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives prepare to hold hearings this week on U.S. policy toward Sudan, a newly released strategy paper argues that conflict resolution efforts in Chad are essential to achieving an end to the Sudan crisis.

In its findings, the Enough Project says there has to be a strategy to deal with Chad’s authoritarian governance and state weakness that it indicates have kept the country and the region unstable. Enough Project policy adviser Omer Ismail says that without an end to the constant cross-border volley of attacks against each others' regimes, a durable, comprehensive peace for the region cannot be achieved.

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An important ruling is expected Wednesday on a disputed border region in Sudan.  The ruling from the Abyei Arbitration Tribunal could determine the boundaries of the oil-rich Abyei region and directly affect the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).  The CPA ended a long civil war between northern and southern Sudan.

Monday, the ENOUGH Project issued a new strategy paper on Abyei.  Colin Thomas-Jensen, policy advisor and co-author of the paper, spoke to VOA about why he considers Abyei the next big test for Sudan.

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Members of the U.S. Congress are urging President Obama to take further steps to address the situation in Darfur. Lawmakers joined Darfur activist and actress Mia Farrow and others at a news conference on Capitol Hill.

Acting on doctor's orders earlier this month, the 64-year-old actress ended a 12-day-long liquids-only hunger strike to protest the expulsion by Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of more than a dozen humanitarian aid agencies from Darfur.

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 A new report makes recommendations on what the international community should do to help bring peace to Somalia. Beyond Piracy: Next Steps to Stabilize Somalia is published by the Enough Project, part of Center for American Progress in Washington.

The report finds piracy to be the "lowest order of threat" to Somalia, the region and the United States. Davidson College political science professor Ken Menkhaus is one of the authors. 

One week after international donors pledged more than $200 million, primarily toward security needs of a new government in Somalia, UN officials are expected to address the humanitarian response to Somalia’s refugee crisis. In London Friday, they will discuss what is needed inside the country and in surrounding areas to promote stability and improve conditions for more than 260-thousand residents who have fled to overcrowded camps in northeastern Kenya.  Colin Thomas-Jensen, the Africa advocacy and research manager for the Washington-based Enough Project, points out that much of the international donor support pledged last week at the donor conference in Brussels, Belgium will go toward strengthening African Union (AU) peacekeepers in Somalia, but that the rest of the donated funds should be disbursed very carefully. 

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