Sudan has responded to the International Criminal Court (ICC) calmly and composedly after the ICC prosecutor filed genocide charges against its President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. On Monday, or July 14, Al-Bashir said the ICC did not have any jurisdiction to prosecute him and that all charges against him were "sheer lies".
Al-Bashir made these remarks at an elaborate ceremony to ratify and ink Sudan's new electoral law on the same day. The signing of the new electoral law is widely regarded as a major political event in the country, as the law will lay the basis for its 2009 national election.
While swaying the red brochure of the new electoral law, he said to political figures from varied factions present off the stage that any visitors to Darfur will find out how funny the alleged "genocide" in the Darfur region could be. He also said it was nothing but the errant nonsense when they come to contact with local tribal people and get to know the real situation there.
Sudanese Vice-President Ali Osman Taha declared that the Darfur crisis had long been in existence before President al-Bashir came to power; the issue was still being capitalized on, and this is apparently out of ulterior motives and it poses a "political conspiracy" against his country.
In a special TV program designed and made to voice support for President al-Bashir, the Sudan television broadcasted a range of interviews with personalities from various walks of life. Moreover, thousands of people, chanting slogans against the United States and the ICC, marched and demonstrated in the capital of Khartoum Monday to show their vehement anger and protest against the indictment of President Omar al-Bashir by the ICC.
Meanwhile, the African Union (AU) deems that the ICC indictment of al-Bashir could possibly result in a "military coup" in Sudan and cited the "political turmoil" as its most likely outcome. And the Cairo-based Arab League (AL) has decided to hold an emergency meeting at the level of foreign ministers pretty soon to coordinate stances and find ways and means to cope with the emergency situation. A senior AL official noted that the sovereign dignity of an AL member nation should deserve respect.
Qatar's "Flag News"in a recent editorial terms the ICC decision as "risky", saying that it does not have any constitutional, legal basis but sabotages the "state sovereignty" of Sudan and hence it is unacceptable. Furthermore, the indictment of the president of an independent sovereign nation will give rise to an unnecessary turmoil and stagnate the peace process of the Darfur region while exerting a grave negative impact on the political situation in Sudan, the newspaper said.
The ICC prosecution against President Omar Al-Bashiraffects not only the stability of Sudan's political situation and turn the country into a "second Iraq or Somalia", but will have an immense impact on the regional situation, acknowledged a noted professor of politics with elite Khartoum University in an interview with the Sudan television.
By People's Daily Online and its author is Huang Peizhao, a PD resident report in Egypt
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article