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Sudan Warns Relations With Uganda Eroding

   Peter Clottey 06 June 2010
   Sudan's  President  Omar al-Bashir makes a speach to parliament during
   the  Oath  of  Office  ceremony,  Thursday, May 27, 2010, in Khartoum,
   Sudan, after being re-elected to office

Photo: AP

   Sudan's  President  Omar al-Bashir makes a speach to parliament during
   the  Oath  of  Office  ceremony,  Thursday, May 27, 2010, in Khartoum,
   Sudan, after being re-elected to office

   A prominent member of Sudanâs ruling National Congress Party (NCP) has
   warned  relations between Khartoum and Kampala are set to deteriorate.
   His  comment  came  after Ugandaâs government said it would not invite
   President  Omar  Hassan Al-Bashir to next monthâs African Union (A.U.)
   summit.

   Rabie Abdulatti Obeid condemned President Yoweri Museveniâs government
   saying  Kampalaâs  pronouncement  is  unacceptable  and undermines the
   integrity of the continental body.

   âI think this will go against the African Union Charter and humiliate,
   also,  this  African  Union organization as this organization does not
   belong to Uganda. This belongs to member states. And, I think that, if
   the  African  Union authorities allow such a decision to be in effect,
   this   will  diminish  and  remove  respect  from  this  (continental)
   organization,â he said.

   President  Museveniâs office said in a statement over the weekend that
   Sudanese  government  officials  will represent the country instead of
   President  Bashir  in  the  A.U.  conference scheduled to be held next
   month in Ugandaâs capital, Kampala.

   The  Hague-based  International Criminal Court issued an international
   arrest  warrant  in  March,  2009  against  President  Bashir over his
   alleged role in the Darfur Conflict.

   Judges of the court issued a warrant against President Bashir on seven
   counts:  five  for  crimes  against  humanity - murder, extermination,
   forcible   transfer,   torture   and   rape;  two  for  war  crimes  -
   intentionally  directing  attacks  against  a  civilian  population or
   individual  civilians,  and  pillaging  â  charges  supporters  of the
   Sudanese leader reject.

   The  African  Union,  China and the Arab League asked the ICC to defer
   the  arrest warrant saying it will complicate efforts at resolving the
   Darfur  conflict,  as  well  as undermine the peace accord between the
   north  and south. The accords signed in 2005 effectively ended Sudanâs
   more than two decades of civil war.

   Ugandaâs government is a signatory to the Rome Statute that led to the
   formation of the International Criminal Court. Uganda has said it will
   abide by the ICC arrest warrant decision.

   But, NCP official Obeid said the arrest warrant has nothing to do with
   the upcoming African Union conference in Uganda.

   âThis  is  not  relating to the authorities of the Ugandan government.
   And,  even  the  African  Union  has already taken a stance supporting
   Sudan  and rejecting that warrant of arrest issued by ICC against him.
   Like  this  Africa-French  summit  that  already  convened  in France,
   President  Bashir  didnât  go.  But,  the  Vice  President,  Ali Osman
   Mohammed Taha, attended that meeting,â Obeid said.

   The  international  arrest  warrant  against the Sudanese leader makes
   President  Bashir  the  first  head of state to be charged by the ICC.
   But, Mr. Bashir described the warrant against him as âworthless.â

   The  United  Nations  estimates  that  35,000  people have so far been
   killed  in  the  Darfur conflict. But, Khartoum puts the death toll at
   only 10,000.

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