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Sudan: Ban Must Press Bashir On Darfur Justice - Rights Group
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The Daily Monitor (Addis Ababa)
31 January 2008
Posted to the web 31 January 2008
Addis Ababa
During their meeting on Thursday at the African Union summit, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon must publicly urge Sudan's president to comply with arrest warrants for two Sudanese accused of atrocities in Darfur, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.
On April 27, 2007, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued its first arrest warrants for Sudan, citing former state minister of the interior Ahmed Haroun and Janjaweed leader Ali Kosheib for 51 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In September, the Sudanese government appointed Haroun to co-chair a committee to hear complaints from victims of human rights abuses in Sudan.
Haroun is state minister for humanitarian affairs and the government's liaison with the UNAMID forces.
In October, the Sudanese government released the second ICC suspect, Kosheib, from prison where he had been held on unrelated charges.
In mid-January, Bashir appointed Janjaweed leader Musa Hilal, who is subject to Security Council sanctions, as a special advisor, according to the writs watt.
"Bashir's appointment of a Janjaweed leader subject to Security Council sanctions is a direct affront to the United Nations," said Richard Dicker, director of the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch in a media statement e-mailed to The Daily Monitor on Wednsday.
"Ban Ki-moon should publicly condemn Musa Hilal's appointment when he meets with Bashir in Addis Ababa." The Security Council referred the situation in Sudan to the ICC in March 2005.
Ban has said that he will use the meeting with Bashir in Addis Ababa to seek "concrete commitments" from Sudan on the deployment of the United Nations/African Union peacekeeping force (UNAMID).
UNAMID is jointly commanded by the African Union and United Nations.
At the AU Summit, Bashir is also expected to bid for the prestigious role of chair of the AU Commission. Sudan's candidacy was rejected in 2006 and 2007.
"It's outrageous that Bashir is even being considered for the AU presidency," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
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"How could one of Africa's highest honors be given to the leader of a government that's implicated in massive atrocities and is determined to block justice at every turn."
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