Waging Peace

Today President al-Bashir celebrates 20 years since the military coup in which he took power in Sudan. In the past two decades he has waged two civil wars, taking the lives of more than 2.6 million people, and displaced a further 6.5 million; he has funded murderous rebel armies in Chad and Uganda; and most recently he has been indicted by the international criminal court for five counts of crimes against humanity and two counts of war crime.

Few of his contemporary dictators can claim so many casualties and such opprobrium. Yet Bashir continues to manipulate even his critics in the international community, setting Russia and China against Europe and the US, and cynically lobbying the African Union and Arab League to back him against the "neocolonialist", "imperialist", "Zionist", western "conspirators". Diplomats struggle to grasp that the architect of such ubiquitous suffering and violence can, at the same time, be a highly skilled diplomat. Bashir is the master of conceding the minimum required just at the right moment to delay concerted actions, such as sanctions, against his regime.

As Bashir enters his third decade in power, we urge the UN and its member states to reflect on the horror and destruction he has brought to his country and not to allow the suffering of the Sudanese people to be forgotten. Only a coherent, concerted and consistent policy towards Bashir will deliver peace and justice to the people of Sudan.

Rebecca Tinsley Chair, Waging Peace

Gerhart Baum, Former UN special rapporteur on human rights in Sudan

Giles Fraser Canon, St Pauls

Ed Husain Quilliam Foundation

Rabbi Maurice Michaels

Stephen Mangan

Lord Alton

Peter Tatchell, human rights campaigner

Richard Freedman, Director, South African Holocaust Foundation

Helen Baxendale, actress

Caroline Moorhead, journalist and biographer

On 8 and 9 June, African Union member states are meeting to discuss withdrawing from the International Criminal Court (ICC) as a form of protest to the arrest warrant issued against Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir.

Ahead of the meeting in Addis, African civil society groups, including the Southern Africa Litigation Centre, the Chairman of the General Council of the Bar of South Africa and Halima Bashir, Darfuri author of the novel 'Tears of the Desert', have united in condemnation of the Sudanese Government's cynical lobbying of countries to withdraw recognition of the International Criminal Court. Their condemnation is supported by several leading figures from African civil society who have signed the letter, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

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Today, Bahr Idriss Abu Garda, will become the first Darfuri anti-government rebel to be charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Court. This follows the indictment of the Sudanese President in March which set legal precedent as it was the first time charges had been set against a sitting head of state. Abu Garda, leader of the Darfur rebel group the United Resistance Movement (URF), is due to appear before the Court this afternoon, to deny charges against him.

Click here for more information.

Will Africa Let Sudan Off the Hook?
By DESMOND TUTU

The expected issuance of an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan by the International Criminal Court tomorrow presents a stark choice for African leaders — are they on the side of justice or on the side of injustice? Are they on the side of the victim or the oppressor? The choice is clear but the answer so far from many African leaders has been shameful.

Because the victims in Sudan are African, African leaders should be the staunchest supporters of efforts to see perpetrators brought to account. Yet rather than stand by those who have suffered in Darfur, African leaders have so far rallied behind the man responsible for turning that corner of Africa into a graveyard.

In response to news last July that Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the court’s chief prosecutor, was seeking an arrest warrant for President Bashir for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, the African Union issued a communiqué to the United Nations Security Council asking it to suspend the court’s proceedings. Rather than condemn the genocide in Darfur, the organization chose to underscore its concern that African leaders are being unfairly singled out and to support President Bashir’s effort to delay court proceedings.

More recently, the Group of 77, an influential organization at the United Nations consisting of 130 developing states and including nearly every African country, gave Sudan its chairmanship. The victory came after African members endorsed Sudan’s candidacy in spite of the imminent criminal charges against its president.

I regret that the charges against President Bashir are being used to stir up the sentiment that the justice system — and in particular, the international court — is biased against Africa. Justice is in the interest of victims, and the victims of these crimes are African. To imply that the prosecution is a plot by the West is demeaning to Africans and understates the commitment to justice we have seen across the continent.

It’s worth remembering that more than 20 African countries were among the founders of the International Criminal Court, and of the 108 nations that joined the court, 30 are in Africa. That the court’s four active investigations are all in Africa is not because of prosecutorial prejudice — it is because three of the countries involved (Central African Republic, Congo and Uganda) themselves requested that the prosecutor intervene. Only the Darfur case was referred to the prosecutor by the Security Council. The prosecutor on his own initiative is considering investigations in Afghanistan, Colombia and Georgia.

African leaders argue that the court’s action will impede efforts to promote peace in Darfur. However, there can be no real peace and security until justice is enjoyed by the inhabitants of the land. There is no peace precisely because there has been no justice. As painful and inconvenient as justice may be, we have seen that the alternative — allowing accountability to fall by the wayside — is worse.

The issuance of an arrest warrant for President Bashir would be an extraordinary moment for the people of Sudan — and for those around the world who have come to doubt that powerful people and governments can be called to account for inhumane acts. African leaders should support this historic occasion, not work to subvert it.

Desmond Tutu, the former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.

Today, Waging Peace welcomed the decision by the International Criminal Court to indict the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on the charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Waging Peace last year submitted children’s pictures of the genocide in Darfur which have been accepted by the ICC as contextual evidence to be used in the trial of Bashir, as well as previously indicted Humanitarian Minister Ahmed Haroun and militia leader Ali Kushayb.

Furthermore, a petition signed by 60,000 Darfuris calling for justice and international intervention in the conflict was also delivered last year to Gordon Brown by Waging Peace and Darfuris residing in the UK

Waging Peace Chair, Rebecca Tinsley:

“While we regret that there was not yet sufficient evidence before the court to indict Bashir for genocide, we welcome the acknowledgement by the ICC of the role that the Sudanese President has played in bringing death and destruction to Darfur. After five years of pandering to the Khartoum government, the international community is finally sending a strong signal that the systematic murder, rape and displacement of innocent people will not go unpunished.

“With the removal of Bashir, as an architect of this conflict and a master of manipulation, there is finally hope for a genuine peace process for Darfur. His arrest is imperative in bringing an end to the violence that has destroyed the lives of millions of people. It is time the international community steps-up to its obligations and listens to the voices of the Darfuri people who are calling for Bashir to answer the charges he faces. Failure to act now would jeopardise the lives of millions of Darfuris and the future of international justice.”

Please follow this LINK to see he BBC's coverage of the drawings.

Click here for a link to a Times article on the ICC indcitement and the role of the drawings.

You an also listen to Waging Peace's Olivia Warham talking about the ICC's decision and the use of the drawings by the ICC on wednesday's World at One.

In coming weeks, the International Criminal Court is expected to announce its decision regarding the indictement fo Sudanese President Al-Bashir.

Click here for more information on the ICC and its work in Sudan.

Click here for an outline of arguments and counter-arguments on the indictement of the Sudanese President.

The Waging Peace team is thrilled to announce that Archbishop  Desmond Tutu has agreed to be our patron. His steadfast  support for Darfur is an enormous morale boost for people in the refugee camps in Darfur, in exile in eastern Chad and elsewhere. Archbishop Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in dismantling South African apartheid. He has dedicated his life to defending and campaigning for human rights around the world. Archbishop Tutu has described Darfur as "a gaping wound that affronts African values. The people of Darfur have suffered terribly." He has been an outspoken critic of the "oppressive and tyrannical" Sudanese regime. He has also criticised the African Union for abandoning the innocent people of Darfur and allowing the politicians in power to turn Darfur into a  "graveyard." Archbishop Tutu has consistently called for an immediate cease fire, a strengthened UN force and a robust mandate to protect the innocent, saying,"There must be no more excuses. Action needs to be taken right now." We are profoundly grateful for his support.