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Human Rights Watch Official Says Sudanās Bashir Still Faces Charges

   Peter Clottey 26 April 2010

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS

   Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, in full military dress, greets army
   officers  as  as  he visits the military hospital, in Khartoum, Sudan,
   Thursday  April  22,  2010.  The  White  House had said Sudan's recent
   elections  are  an  essential step in the country's peace efforts even
   though they did not meet international standards. (AP Photo/Abd Raouf)

   The  Executive  Director  of the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch
   (HRW)  says the re-election of Sudanās President Omar Hassan al-Bashir
   has  no  legal  effect  on  the  International  Criminal Courtās (ICC)
   charges against him.

   Georgette  Gagnon  says  HRW  has  documentary evidence that shows the
   elections  were  marred  by  widespread irregularities and gross human
   rights violations that undermined the credibility of the vote.

   āOur view is that the re-election of Bashir has no legal effect at all
   on  the  ICC  charges  pending  against  him,  and he should be facing
   justice  in The Hague. These elections have nothing to do with the ICC
   warrant  and his legitimacy or his innocence or guilt or anything like
   that,ā he said.

   According  to  an  official  of the Hague-based International Criminal
   Court, Sudanās President Bashir intentionally directed attacks against
   the  civilian  population of Darfur, murdering, exterminating, raping,
   torturing,  and  forcibly  transferring large numbers of civilians and
   pillaging their property.

   Last  year,  a three judge panel from the ICC accused President Bashir
   of  seven  counts  of  war crimes and crimes against humanity stemming
   from  his  government's  counterinsurgency campaign in Sudanās western
   region of Darfur.

   But  supporters  of President Bashir rejected the indictment, claiming
   the  United  States  and  others  were  behind the charges against the
   Sudanese leader.

   Sudanās  National  Electoral  Commission declared Mr. Bashir winner of
   the  presidential  contest with more than 62 percent of the total vote
   cast.

   Some  observers  say Bashirās election gives him legitimacy that would
   enable him to defy the ICC arrest warrant.

   But  Gagnon  maintains  that  the  āflawed  āelections  will  not give
   President Bashir any legitimacy.

   āIf  one  takes  any sort of assessment of the elections, you will see
   that  these  elections  were highly flawed. There were a whole host of
   technical irregularities. Also, we documented political oppression and
   human   rights  violations  across  the  country  that  undermine  the
   credibility  of  the  vote all over Sudan. So in our view, it is not a
   good  argument  to  be  saying  the  presidentās  legitimacy  is being
   increased in a set of flawed elections. It doesnāt make sense,ā Gagnon
   said.

   Poll   observers  say  the  elections  failed  to  meet  international
   standards.  But  Sudanās  National  Electoral  Commission  said  it is
   pleased to have organized Sudanās first elections in 24 years.

   The  elections  form  part  of  the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement
   (CPA)  signed  between  President  Bashirās  government  and the Sudan
   Peopleās Liberation Movement (SPLM).

   The agreement effectively ended decades of civil war between the north
   and the south.

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