Sudan's president congratulates independent South

By REUTERS
Jul 9, 2011

JUBA: Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir congratulated South Sudan on its independence on Saturday and called for good neighborly relations at a ceremony to mark the south’s split from Sudan in the north.

Sudan became the first nation to recognize the south on Friday, hours before the birth of the new state, a gesture of goodwill from the north which fought against secessionist forces for decades.

“We congratulate our brothers in the south for the establishment of their new state,” said Bashir, addressing thousands of southerners who cheered after he spoke.

“We share their joy and celebration,” he said. “The will of the people of the south has to be respected.”

“Despite our belief that Sudan’s unity would have been better ... the gains achieved over the last years from the shared conviction of the feasibility of peace ... must be protected,” Bashir said.

The president of Sudan, who lost almost a third of his country’s territory and about three quarters of its oil reserves with the split, said gains could be secured with “positive” ties and by maintaining joint economic and trade interests.

He called for support from the international community. “We call on US President Barack Obama to deliver on his commitment he announced to lift the unilateral sanctions on Sudan to open to way to normalize his country’s relations with Sudan.”

Obama recognized the south in a statement earlier on Saturday but stopped short of announcing any immediate changes in longstanding US sanctions on Sudan itself that Khartoum has been hoping will be lifted.

Addressing the crowd, Bashir said: “We have a joint and continuing responsibility to build and strengthen confidence to complete the agreement on outstanding issues.”

Northern and southern leaders have still not agreed on a list of issues, most importantly the line of the border, the ownership of the disputed Abyei region and how they will handle oil revenues, the lifeblood of both economies.

Source: Arab News.
Link: http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article469116.ece.

China rolls out red carpet for Sudan's Bashir

2011-06-29

Sudanese President insists southern independence will not affect relationship between Beijing and Khartoum.

By Susan Stumme - BEIJING

Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted on genocide charges, was given a red-carpet welcome Wednesday by Chinese President Hu Jintao, despite criticism from Washington and human rights groups.

The two presidents sat down for talks in the Great Hall of the People in the heart of Beijing after the usual pomp and circumstance of a welcoming ceremony not often afforded to Bashir, who is unwelcome in many countries.

"Mr Bashir, you are a guest who has traveled from afar, and we welcome you," Hu said in opening remarks, adding that he hoped the talks would help bolster the "traditionally friendly relations" between the two countries.

The Sudanese leader, who called Hu his "friend and brother", thanked the Chinese leader for the "warm welcome and treatment" he had received since arriving in Beijing on Tuesday.

The pair later witnessed the signing of a economic and technological cooperation agreement, as well as two loan deals including one for a bridge project in eastern Sudan. No further details were given.

Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity that occurred in Sudan's western Darfur region, where about 300,000 people have died since 2003.

China nevertheless remains an unabashed supporter of the Sudanese leader, who was the first sitting head of state to be served an ICC arrest warrant.

The two presidents were expected to discuss the ongoing north-south peace process in Sudan, the situation in war-torn Darfur -- and perhaps how Bashir's regime intends to safeguard Chinese investment in his country.

Beijing is a key military supplier to the regime in Khartoum and the biggest buyer of the country's oil, although the majority of Sudan's oil fields are located in the south, which will become independent on July 9.

In an interview with China's official Xinhua news agency ahead of the visit, Bashir insisted that southern independence "will not affect the relationship" between Beijing and Khartoum, hailing China as a model "real partner".

China and Sudan on Tuesday signed an agreement to "deepen" oil and gas cooperation in the presence of Bashir and other ministers, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the country's top oil producer, said in a statement.

The company did not provide further details.

Beijing has defended its invitation to Bashir, with foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei saying Tuesday: "As a friendly country of China, the Sudanese leader's visit to China is quite reasonable."

The Sudanese leader's visit has sparked outrage among rights groups, and earned the reproach of the US State Department.

"We continue to oppose invitations, facilitation, support for travel by ICC indictees," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Monday.

ICC statutes dictate that any member country should arrest Bashir if he visits. China is not a party to those statutes, nor is the United States.

"We reserve our opinion on the ICC's prosecution against President Bashir," China's Hong said Tuesday.

Bashir -- who last visited China in 2006 -- arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, one day late after his presidential plane was turned back to Iran while flying over Turkmenistan. Hong attributed the delay to "technical reasons".

New York-based Human Rights Watch described Bashir's trip as "an affront to victims of heinous crimes committed in Darfur" and had urged Beijing to arrest Bashir on arrival.

Amnesty International said earlier this month that China risked becoming a "safe haven for alleged perpetrators of genocide" if it hosted Bashir.

Bashir and Hu may also have discussed Chinese aid to Sudan and problems in Abyei, a disputed border area claimed both by Bashir's Khartoum-based northern Sudan regime and the rival government in the south.

The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously on Monday to send a 4,200-strong Ethiopian peacekeeping force to Abyei in a bid to douse tensions.

The Sudanese leader had been due to stay in China until Thursday, but it was unclear whether his delayed arrival would now prolong his stay.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=46982.

After delay, Sudan's Bashir heads to China

TEHRAN, June 27 (UPI) -- Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was on his way to Beijing after making an unscheduled stop to Tehran in an apparent effort to escape arrest, Iran said.

Authorities in the Iranian government confirmed that a plane carrying the Sudanese president left for Beijing from Tehran, the Daily Telegraph newspaper in London reports. The visit to China marks the Sudanese president's first since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him.

U.N. Security Council Resolution 1593 in 2005 referred Sudan to the International Criminal Court after evidence emerged of serious rights violations in Darfur.

Bashir is accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Khartoum isn't party to the Rome Statute that created the international court. Neither is China.

The presidential plan failed to arrive Monday in Beijing as scheduled and later surfaced in Tehran,

Human rights groups were calling for Bashir's arrest during his four-day state visit. Speculation surfaced after he failed to arrive on time that he was afraid his flight would take him through the airspace of country's that could seek his arrest, the Telegraph adds.

The newspaper notes Washington appears to have sanctioned the visit to Beijing. A major international effort is behind restoring peace to Sudan ahead of a July independence for South Sudan.

South Sudan won the right to gain independence as part of a comprehensive peace agreement reached with Washington's help in 2005. Conflicts along the region dividing the north and south, disputes over oil and border demarcation threaten to unravel the peace deal.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/06/27/After-delay-Sudans-Bashir-heads-to-China/UPI-29371309195224/.

South Sudan welcome Bashir's reassurance

Wednesday 5 January 2011
Nangayi Guyson, AfricaNews reporter in Kampala, Uganda

South Sudan's information minister Dr Barnaba Marial Benjamin has welcomed reassurances by the Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir that he will respect Sunday's referendum on southern independence.

He told the BBC he was pleased with President Omar al-Bashir acceptance of the referendum. He said the vote will allow the people of South Sudan to decide their own future for the first time since 1898.

On his final visit to the south before the referendum, Bashir said that he would be sad to see Sudan split in two. But he added he would be happy if that brought "real peace" to both sides.

Analysts said President Bashir's remarks reflect a growing realization by the Sudanese government that it cannot prevent the week-long referendum.

The vote is part of a 2005 deal that ended a two-decades-long war.

"We are pleased at the end of the day, despite difficulties and challenges, President Bashir had to realize that this agreement is not just between the Sudanese alone but it involves the whole international community," said Dr Benjamin.

However, a referendum on independence for south Sudan on Sunday raises tough questions about the legitimacy of Africa's colonial borders and sets a precedent for existing secessionist movements, analysts say.

"There is an uneasiness in Africa towards this independence because it breaks with a tradition (of borders being inviolable) and because it seems to be taking place under US pressure," says Roland Marchal, Sudan specialist and senior researcher at the Institute of Political Sciences in Paris.

"This is seen as if it were a Berlin II, with the colonial powers carving up Africa again," he said, referring to the 1885 Berlin Conference where European powers divided and colonized Africa among themselves.

A peace accord in 2005 between the mostly Arab Muslim north and the largely Christian African south ended a 22-year civil war in Sudan, with an agreement that southerners could vote for independence after six years.

Southern Sudan has been marginalized by a succession of governments in Khartoum, from colonial times onwards.

The north and south are also divided by culture, religion, ethnicity and a history of conflict, correspondents say.

For the vote to be considered valid, 60% of voters must take part.

Darfur's most active group, the Justice and Equality Movement, said in August that it would demand self-determination if it’s nearly eight-year conflict with the government continued.

Source: AfricaNews.
Link: http://www.africanews.com/site/South_Sudan_welcome_Bashirs_reassurance/list_messages/36904.

Bashir in 'historic visit' to Juba

The Sudanese president is to deliver final remarks before secession referendum "to set the scene for amicable divorce".

04 Jan 2011

Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, has arrived in the southern regional capital of Juba to deliver what could be his final address in the region. He will also meet with local ministers ahead of his country's upcoming vote on secession.

With polls indicating that southerners favor breaking away from the north, Tuesday's remarks could be Bashir's final speech to a south that remains undivided from the north.

Bashir, who has insisted on unity in the past, is expected to strike a conciliatory tone, said Al Jazeera's Lauren Taylor, reporting from Juba.

Bashir has recently said he will be the first to congratulate the south on its independence if it secedes, and the southern government has ordered ministers out onto the street to greet the president.

The friendly gestures from both sides indicates their "prickly interdependence," our correspondent said: Most of Sudan's oil is located in the south, but the means of production lie in the north.

Bashir's speech, Taylor said, will attempt to "set the scene for an amicable divorce".

But on Tuesday, Bashir also called on south Sudan not to assist fighters from the western Darfur region whose rebellion against Bashir's government set off the country's civil war in 2003.

Any cooperation with the former rebels would be a "violation," he said.

Source: al-Jazeera.
Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/01/2011146021176942.html.

Sudanese President al-Bashir threatens walkout from Darfur talks

Thu, 30 Dec 2010

Nairobi/Khartoum - Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Thursday threatened his side would quit the talks in Qatar aimed at ending the Darfur conflict if there is no agreement by the end of 2010 on Friday.

His remarks reported by the online edition of the Sudan Tribune were immediately deplored by mediators and by the other side in the Darfur talks, the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).

"If we reach an agreement tomorrow, praise be to God," al-Bashir said. "But if there is no agreement, we will withdraw our negotiating team.

"The negotiation and dialogue will be inside Darfur and with the Darfur people. We will not negotiate with any person who carries a gun and claims that he is a leader of an armed faction," he said.

The warning comes after nearly two years of talks in Doha with the support of the African Union and the Arab League to try to end the conflict in region in western Sudan between the predominantly black African ethnic population and Arab militias.

The chief negotiator in Doha, Djibril Bassole, said he regretted al-Bashir's remarks, calling them a threat to the peace process.

Ahmed Hussein, spokesman for JEM, the largest rebel group in Darfur, called al-Bashir's comments a "serious blow to the peace efforts."

By United Nations estimates, more than 300,000 people have been killed in the conflict since 2003. In the meantime the International Court of Justice has issued an arrest warrant against al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/360146,threatens-walkout-darfur-talks.html.

Bashir to reinforce Sharia if Sudan splits

Mon Dec 20, 2010

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has said that the north of the country will reinforce its Islamic law if the south secedes in the next month referendum.

"If south Sudan secedes, we'll change the constitution. There will be no question of cultural or ethnic diversity. Sharia will be the only source of the constitution, and Arabic the only official language," he said in a speech on national television on Sunday, AFP reported.

South Sudan is just three weeks away from the referendum, which is to determine the fate of the Christian-majority region. It is predicted that southerners will vote for independence.

The vote was included in the 2005 peace deal between the mainly Muslim north and the predominantly Christian south that ended the civil war in Sudan.

The north's National Congress Party and South's Sudan People's Liberation Movement also agreed on an interim constitution that considered both Islamic and Christian social and cultural values. In addition, Arabic and English were recognized as the official languages of the country. These laws are valid until July 2011.

Tensions are running high in Sudan as many fear that the referendum could spark political crisis as well as violence.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/156262.html.

Court to report failure to arrest Sudan's President al Bashir

Wed, 08 Dec 2010

New York - The International Criminal Court was expected to inform the UN Security Council on Thursday that the government in Khartoum has failed to implement international arrest warrants against President Omar al Bashir and other Sudanese officials.

ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo was scheduled to present a fresh six-month report on his activities, which so far have been futile with regard the arrest of al Bashir, who was re-elected for a new term this year.

ICC judges had issued in May a judicial decision informing the council that Sudan failed to cooperate in the arrest of two other Sudanese officials involved in mass killings in Darfur: Ahmad Muhammad Harun and Ali Kushayb.

The ICC is to provide the council with an overview of its prosecutorial and investigative activities in the past six months.

The ICC, supported by a strong coalition of 2,500 civil society organizations in 150 countries, has been asking governments to carry international warrants to arrest the Sudanese, who have been indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

"Any lack of cooperation with the ICC threatens to undermine the authority of the Security Council, which referred the situation in Darfur to the court in 2005," said Tanya Karanasios, the program director of the Coalition for the ICC. "We urge the council to reiterate its support to justice for the victims of Darfur."

The war in Darfur that pits Khartoum against African rebel groups has killed over 300,000 people since 2003, the UN said. More than 2 million Darfurians have become refugees.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/357260,sudans-president-al-bashir.html.

Beshir pledges 'free' elections

Khartoum - President Omar al-Beshir, who faces a possible arrest warrant for alleged war crimes in Darfur, said on Thursday he wanted to hold "free" elections soon to guarantee stability in Sudan.

"I am looking forward to holding free elections in the near future and I ask all parties to prepare themselves for the next elections," Beshir told opposition party leaders.

"There is no security and economic stability without political stability," said Beshir, who was speaking at the congress of the key opposition Umma Party, also attended by diplomats.

Bashir, who came to power in a 1989 military coup, won a presidential election in 2000 with nearly 90% of all votes cast, in a ballot slammed as a sham by the opposition.

ICC to decide on arrest

He said on Thursday that no-one could prevent him from holding elections, a veiled reference to the International Criminal Court which is set to rule on March 4 on whether to issue a warrant for his arrest.

ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo asked the court in July for an arrest warrant for Beshir on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Darfur.

If the warrant is granted and an arrest carried out, Beshir would become the first sitting head of state to be hauled before the ICC.

"Some are trying to undermine this democratization process but any attempt, from any party, will be ignored," Beshir said.