BuaNews (Tshwane)
Chris Bathembu
12 July 2009
Pretoria — The African Union High Level Panel on Darfur (AUPD) has dismissed media reports claiming former President Thabo Mbeki has called on the three Sudanese personalities, including President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir to present themselves before the International Criminal Court to stand trial.
Mr Mbeki is the chairperson of AUPD.
"This report is completely false and highly irresponsible. No member of the Panel has made any such pronouncement.
"Indeed, no member of the Panel could make any such pronouncement as the Panel has not yet completed its work," AUPD spokesperson Barney Afako said.
Speaking at a press conference held at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa on Friday, Mr Afako said that Mr Mbeki was asked about the Panel's position on the ICC arrest warrant against President Bashir.
"Mr Mbeki indicated that the Panel operated on the basis that the ICC warrant "is a given". He, however, acknowledged that some of the interested parties with whom the Panel has met had called for ICC trials.
The Panel was established to address the issues of peace, reconciliation and justice in Darfur.
These issues were fundamental to resolving the crisis of Sudan as manifested in Darfur.
"The search for peace, reconciliation and justice for Darfur is broader than the ICC process. In this connection, the ICC Prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, reiterated his support for the Panel's work when he met with the Panel this week in Addis Ababa," added Mr Afako.
He said the Panel has previously met with the Government of Sudan, representatives of some of the armed opposition movements, political parties, civil society representatives, internally displaced people, refugees, tribal leaders, Native Authorities of Darfur.
It has also met with some of Sudan's neighbouring countries, representatives of other foreign governments and institutions, amongst others.
It is expected to hand over its report to the AU in September.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2009 BuaNews. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
MATTHEW 10:26 DON’T BE AFRAID OF THEM, FOR THERE IS NOTHING COVERED THAT WON’T BE REVEALED AND THERE IS NOTHING HIDDEN THAT WON’T BE KNOWN.
Remember the 120 ! in the Upperroom, Gideon’s 300, One(1) believer can chase 1,000 demons & Two (2) can make 10,000 run .
How many will 1 million chase ?
Here’s An abbreviated Spirit Bomb prayer that I’d like for us to say to God The Creator Of All :
OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN , HOLY IS YOUR NAME, YOUR KINGDOM COME , YOUR WILL BE DONE, IN EARTH AS IT… [Read Full Text]
In his piece entitled “ White Collar War Crimes, Black African Fall Guys,”
investigative journalist Keith Snow writes:
First note that the ICC can now be viewed as a tool of hegemonic U.S. foreign policy,
where the weapons deployed by the U.S. and its allies include the accusations of, and
indictments for, human rights violations, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
To understand this, we can ask WHY NO WHITE MAN HAS YET BEEN CHARGED
with these or other offenses at the ICC (International Criminal Court) which now holds
five black African warlords and seeks… [Read Full Text]