The African Union Peace and Security Council is scheduled to meet on Thursday to discuss the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor's decision to seek an arrest warrant for Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, an official said here on Tuesday.
James Mugume, Permanent Secretary of Uganda's Foreign Ministry told Xinhua that member countries of the Peace and Security Council including Uganda will meet in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to discuss the implication of the indictments.
"It is a matter of the AU. We are going to discuss the issue and come out with a common position," he said, noting that Uganda is discouraging individual African countries from issuing statements on the charges.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the prosecutor of UN's court based in The Hague on Monday requested the ICC for an arrest warrant against Bashir for alleged genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, a move Khartoum warned could threaten the already fragile peace process in the region.
Uganda, a close ally to Sudan's former rebels fighting for the independence of the south, said its relation with Sudan, which supported the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), Uganda's rebel group, is normal and that it will not change despite the indictments.
"Nothing will change. Our relationship is with the government of Sudan and not the individual (Bashir)" Okello Oryem, Minister of State for International Affairs told a local newspaper.
Prof. Mahmood Mamdani, the AU advisor on Darfur, called on the continent to unite against the court's decision saying it would undermine the peaceful settlement of the Darfur conflict.
"By criminalizing the leadership of Sudan, the ICC will prevent it from exploring peaceful alternatives," he was quoted by the Daily Monitor as saying on Tuesday.
"Let us hope that Africa will unite and say that this is not the way forward," he added.
Mamdani said if the ICC was around in the early 1990's to issue a criminal warrant against South African strongman FW de Clerk as the president responsible for apartheid, there would have been no talks to end apartheid except through a military victory.
Source:Xinhua
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