Katie Mattern
16 July 2009
Washington — A new survey released on Thursday shows that the publics in four majority Muslim and African nations, contrary to the positions of their governments, largely approve of the indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.
Many fellow African and Muslim leaders have supported Bashir and argued that the indictment was politically motivated.
The poll, released by WorldPublicOpinion.org, a project of the University of Maryland's Programme on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), asked people in seven nations for their opinions of the indictment of Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region of Sudan.
The U.N. estimates the conflict has cost 300,000 lives, while over 2.7 million people have been displaced, in six years of fighting.
More than three-quarters of those surveyed in Kenya and 71 percent of Nigerians overwhelmingly approved the indictment, while respondents in Turkey and Pakistan only recorded a slight margin between approvals and disapprovals.
"This suggests that leaders of some majority-Muslim and African nations, in denouncing the indictment of President Bashir, are out of step with their people," said Steven Kull, director of WorldPublicOpinion.org.
Briggs Bomba, outreach director at the advocacy group Africa Action, agreed. "I don't think it's surprising or something new that there is support on the ground for people to be held accountable for their actions and especially if they are in power," he said.
"What you see then is the difference in positions between ordinary people in Africa and their leaders," he added.
Seven in 10 respondents in the Palestinian territories and nearly half in Egypt disapproved of the indictment - the two populations with the strongest disapproval - and Iraqis were divided with 35 percent approving of the indictment and 37 percent disapproving.
A warrant for the arrest of President Bashir was issued on Mar. 4, 2009, making him the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the Hague-based court. He has been indicted on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The court subsequently dropped charges of genocide.
Bashir countered that the accusations were Western manipulations aimed at taking Sudan's resources, and that he was merely fighting a long-running insurrection in the western Sudanese region.
The U.S. was the only country to officially call the conflict in Darfur genocide, when President George W. Bush broke with the U.N. and other lawmakers and labeled it as such in 2004.
After the indictment was released, the African Union (AU) and the Arab League asked for a deferment of the warrant because of ongoing peace talks between Bashir's government and one of the rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), which was fighting against the government as part of an alliance in the Darfur region.
Bashir met the indictment with outrage. A mass rally in the capital of Khartoum was held in support of Bashir where he declared, "We are telling them to immerse it and drink it" - using an Arabic phrase to convey extreme disrespect.
Shortly after the release of the indictment, Bashir expelled all international aid groups which had been providing assistance to nearly 2.7 million Darfuris.
When asked whether or not they would support the U.N. bringing in food aid if people begin dying of hunger and exposure, even if escorted by military protection, to replace these aid groups and whether or not they believed it was an infringement on Sudan's sovereignty, six of the seven nations surveyed supported this idea.
People polled in Kenya (82 percent), Nigeria (68 percent), Egypt (61 percent), the Palestinian territories (60 percent), Turkey (58 percent) and Iraq (46 percent) all approved of U.N. intervention to bring humanitarian assistance to the region while Pakistanis were against it by only a slight margin, with 37 percent opposed and 42 percent approval.
"We have seen from working with civil society on the ground and individual activists that activists are tired of impunity and the way that the leaders have abused their power as it is with Bashir," Bomba said.
The poll also found that in four of five countries - Kenya (63 percent), Turkey (52 percent), Egypt (51 percent), and Nigeria (49 percent) - people had not too much or no confidence in Bashir. In the Palestinian territories, 51 percent said they had some or a lot of confidence.
The Rome Statute, adopted in 1998 and in effect as of 2002, established the ICC. All states that have ratified the Rome Statute must abide by the rulings of the court. To date, 108 states have ratified the statute, with Chile expected to join later this year. Another 39 states have signed by not ratified the treaty.
Commitments of the Rome Statute include arresting Bashir and turning him over to the ICC if he visited their country or even if his plane entered their air space.
Egypt, Kenya and Nigeria are the only signatories to the Statute that were polled by the WorldPublicOpinion.org survey, and only Kenya and Nigeria have ratified it.
Israel originally signed but has said it does plan to ratify the treaty. The Iraqi government planned on ratifying the Rome Statue, but then decided against it two weeks later. Turkey also said it would ratify the court as a move to improve Ankara's human rights record, but later reversed its decision.
The U.S. is also a signatory but has not ratified the Rome Statute out of fear U.S. citizens could be tried on foreign soil, which some have argued is a violation of their constitutional rights.
Since the Bashir indictment, several African countries, including Senegal, Djibouti and Comoros, have withdrawn from the court in protest of its decision, stating that it is "targeting Africa".
While Egypt is a signatory of the ICC, it refused to hand over Bashir when he visited the country shortly after his indictment. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak pledged his support for the Sudanese leader.
The poll also asked respondents how much they knew about the situation in Darfur. The majority of people they knew some or a lot about the situation in Kenya (85 percent), Egypt (78 percent), the Palestinian territories (65 percent) and Nigeria (59 percent). In other countries - Iraq (48 percent), Pakistan (39 percent) and Turkey (29 percent) - fewer respondents claimed to grasp the issues.
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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 IS IN HEAVEN .
- In Jesus Name We Pray – Amen
Pray twice per day once around sunset & once around sunrise .
Have prayer lists which include Family, Christians, Truthseekers ,& Worthy Causes , etc…
SOME OF OUR LEADERS ARE UNDER DEMONIC INFLUENCE , SOME OF OUR
WORLD IS UNDER THE SAME,. OUR UNITED , CONSISTENT, CONTINUOUS
PRAYERS WILL HELP US TO SEE THROUGH JESUS’ EYES. REMEMBER , HE’S
THE HEAD, WE HAVE NO EYES, EARS, NOSE, MOUTH, ETC..WITHOUT THE
HEAD. THAT IS WHY WE WALK BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT, SOUND, TASTE
OR ANY OTHER NATURAL DISTRACTION. WE ARE SPIRITUAL WARRIORS !!!
Make a Habit Of Praying Twice a Day (Sunset / Sunrise). Have A Daily Prayer, Weekly
Prayer , Monthly Prayer, even Yearly Prayer ; keeping persons, organizations and causes
in mind that you’d like to pray for at these intervals of time ( Daily-Weekly-Monthly-
Yearly).
Some prayer list suggestions –
(DAILY PRAYER LIST ) -
Christian & Natural Family -
TOP-PRIORITY Persons, Causes & Oragnizations
(WEEKLY PRAYER LIST ) -
MID-LEVEL Persons, Causes & Oragnizations
(MONTHLY PRAYER LIST ) -
- Persons, Causes & Oragnizations ( For Example – Heads Of Countries)
(YEARLY PRAYER LIST ) -
LOWER LEVEL - Persons, Causes & Oragnizations
[God Bless You Readers To Want To Know And Seek To Know The Truth] - MAY GOD BE A HAVEN OF PEACE IN OUR TIME OF TROUBLE --
[This inspiring poem was featuring in the movie “Coach Carter ”]
Our Deepest Fear Is Not That We Are Inadequate, Our Deepest Fear Is That We Are Powerful Beyond Measure. It Is Our Light , Not Our Darkness That Most Frightens Us.
We Ask Ourselves, Who Am I To Be Brilliant, Gorgeous, Talented, And Fabulous ?
Actually Who Are We Not To Be ? You Are A Child Of God.
Your Playing Small Doesn’t Serve The World.
There Is Nothing Enlightened About Shrinking So That Other People Won’t Feel Insecure Around You.
We Are All Meant To Shine, As Children Do.
We Were Born To Make Manifest The Glory Of God That Is Within Us.
It’s Not Just In Some Of Us; It’s In Everyone.
And When We Let Our Own Light Shine We Unconsciously Give Other People Permission To Do The Same.
And As We Are Liberated From Our Own Fear, Our Presence Automatically Liberates Others
- Marianne Williamson -
[NOTE – BEING AFRAID AND REFUSING TO GET INVOLVED WON’T STOP US FROM DYING. BUT BEING AFRAID CAN PREVENT US FROM LIVING]
(Nkosi Sikeleli Africa )
God bless Africa May her glory be lifted high Hear our petitions .
God bless us, Your children God we ask You to protect our nation Intervene and end all conflicts Protect us, protect our nation, our nation.
From the blue of our heaven, From the depths of our sea, Over our eternal mountain ranges, Where the cliffs give answer.
Sounds the call to come together, And united we shall stand, Let us live and strive for freedom, In South Africa our land.
[Enoch Mankayi Sontonga]
[http://www.infowars.com/infowars.asx] / [gcnlive.com] / [http://alexjonesringtones.net/]
WAKE UP ! STAY UP MY BROTHERS & SISTERS ! BE SELF-SUFFICIENT IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
- Life Is a Game. Have Fun. [ Luke 18:17 / Isaiah 11:6 ]
One has to be extremely careful in interprenting results from such biased sampling. Polls like this one are conducted to change opinion about a subject matter. I DON'T BELIEVE IN THIS POLL. MOST AFRICANS ARE SCEPTICAL ABOUT THE ICC AND THIS TENSION WILL CONTUNUE!
Notice the way the writer conveniately explains the USA in relation with ICC. She obvious has heard that many Africans think and want George Bush/Tony Blair be indicated about the ICC for their role in Iraq. She does not want to touch the double standards inherent in the ICC in relationship to Israel etc. African countries, like the USA are free to refuse ractifying the ICC, which many will do in the future.
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 to incarcerate and bring to trial another black man,
also an Arab, Omar Bashir.
Why hasn’t George W. Bush been indicted ? Or what about Donald Rumsfeld ?
Dick Cheney? Henry Kissinger? Ehud Olmert? Tony Blair?
The sad fact is that the International Criminal Court has become terribly
politicized, as has the entire international justice apparatus.
The ICC has issued indictments, for the first time in history, against a sitting head of
state. Meanwhile, according to Snow, an Israeli weapons dealer, also a reputed Mossad
operative, is revealed to be shipping weapons into Sudan with Pentagon support.
And Belgium changed its law rather than prosecute Ariel Sharon for war crimes.
The double standard cries out to us.
One country in the West, however, increasingly stands out as a place where
justice can be found?and that is Spain. With its landmark indictment of
Pinochet and its current consideration of Israeli war crimes in Lebanon and
U.S. torture in Guantanamo, we increasingly look to the Spanish Courts with
hope. It was the Spanish courts that returned indictments against Rwandan
soldiers for genocide even as the world coddles U.S. proxy Rwanda and its
leader, Paul Kagame.
[allthingscynthiamckinney.com]
BY PEACE SHALL Many Be deceived (Daniel 8:25) .
DOES THE TERM PEACEKEEPERS ring a Bell ?
Ask the people in Rwanda (who survived that Peace-keeping) about the UN PEACEKEEPERS .
President Obama’s UNITED NATIONS AMBASSADOR SUSAN RICE cut her teeth on the RWANDA MASSACRE….OOOPs!!! She said.
(Here’s a Search Link To Many Witnesses To THE NEW U.N. RICE MONSTER)
[http://ixquick.com/do/metasearch.pl?query=Susan+Rice+Rwanda&cat=web&pl=ff& language=english]
OBAMA DECEPTIONS
#1
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrpRocaEfQE]
#2 Here is evidence of Point 2 of the Georgia Guidestones on Reproduction .
Don't be deceived :
[http://www.infowars.com/?p=7259]
Here are search result links to what the Georgia Guidestones are
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Guidestones ]
#3
BY PEACE SHALL Many Be deceived (Daniel 8:25) .
DOES THE TERM PEACEKEEPERS ring a Bell ?
Ask the people in Rwanda (who survived that Peace-keeping) about the
United Nations PEACEKEEPERS .
President Obama’s UNITED NATIONS AMBASSADOR SUSAN RICE cut her teeth on
the RWANDA MASSACRE…. OOOPs!!! She said.
(Here’s a Search Link To Many Witnesses To THE NEW U.N. RICE MONSTER)
[http://ixquick.com/do/metasearch.pl?query=Susan+Rice+Rwanda&cat=web&pl=ff& language=english]
[This inspiring poem was featuring in the movie “Coach Carter ”]
Our Deepest Fear Is Not That We Are Inadequate, Our Deepest Fear Is That We Are Powerful Beyond Measure. It Is Our Light , Not Our Darkness That Most Frightens Us.
We Ask Ourselves, Who Am I To Be Brilliant, Gorgeous, Talented, And Fabulous ?
Actually Who Are We Not To Be ? You Are A Child Of God.
Your Playing Small Doesn’t Serve The World.
There Is Nothing Enlightened About Shrinking So That Other People Won’t Feel Insecure Around You.
We Are All Meant To Shine, As Children Do.
We Were Born To Make Manifest The Glory Of God That Is Within Us.
It’s Not Just In Some Of Us; It’s In Everyone.
And When We Let Our Own Light Shine We Unconsciously Give Other People Permission To Do The Same.
And As We Are Liberated From Our Own Fear, Our Presence Automatically Liberates Others
- Marianne Williamson -
[NOTE – BEING AFRAID AND REFUSING TO GET INVOLVED WON’T STOP US FROM DYING. BUT BEING AFRAID CAN PREVENT US FROM LIVING]
(Nkosi Sikeleli Africa )
God bless Africa May her glory be lifted high Hear our petitions .
God bless us, Your children God we ask You to protect our nation Intervene and end all conflicts Protect us, protect our nation, our nation.
From the blue of our heaven, From the depths of our sea, Over our eternal mountain ranges, Where the cliffs give answer.
Sounds the call to come together, And united we shall stand, Let us live and strive for freedom, In South Africa our land.
[Enoch Mankayi Sontonga]
WAKE UP !!! STAY UP !!!
[http://www.infowars.com/infowars.asx] / [gcnlive.com] / [http://alexjonesringtones.net/] Life Is A Game. Have Fun . Luke 18:17 - Isaiah 11:6