From: Leo Odera Omolo
Date: Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 6:12 PM

PRESIDENT BASHIR OF SUDAN SKIPS THE CONTROVERSIAL KAMPALA SUMMIT AND, ONLY SENDS TWO JUNIOR MINISTERS.

Reports Leo Odera Omolo.

It has now been officially confirmed that the Sudan President Omar Al Bashir is not coming to Uganda to attend the AU Special Summit on refugee, internally displaced persons and returnees in Africa.

The Khartoum government has instead dispatched two junior officials to the conference, which started yesterday afternoon [Monday}.

The Sudan government official mouthpiece, The Sudan News Agency {SUNA}, said that the Minister of State at the Interior Ministry, Abbas Gumi’a, and the Refugees Commissioner, Mohammed A Agbash, will represent Sudan at the meeting

A new controversy erupted last week after President Yoweri Museveni said he had invited Sudanese President Omar al Bashir to attend the Summit.

Bashir is a fugitive, wanted by the International Court of Criminal Justice {ICC} in the Hague, for war crimes and crimes against humanity he allegedly committed in Western Darfur region.

“We invited him. He is a head of state of an African Unity and as such we invited him”, Museveni was quoted as having told newsmen last week.

Museveni reiterated his position, saying that the AU has appointed its own probe team, led by former South African President, Thabo Mbeki, to look into the allegations.

“When the ICC issued a warrant, our position in the AU security committee was already probing the mater under the leadership of Mr Thabo Mbeki, the former President of the Republic of South Africa, who is leading a probe team that is looking into the matter.”

Museveni had assured President Bashir that he would be safe from arrest if he visited Uganda .But the situation has since been aggravated by various statements of disapproval issued by human rights groups world-wide.

The London based Amnesty International scathingly criticized President Museveni’s remarks and called on Uganda to respect its international obligation under the Rome Statute.

“Uganda as a state, is a party to the treaty that established the ICC and, is therefore obligated to co-operate with the court and arrest and surrender anyone named in an arrest warrant to the ICC”, said the human rights group in a statement Issued last Friday, last week.

“If it fails to do so”, the statement added, “the ICC on the other hand can refer this clear case of violation of Uganda’s obligations to the Assembly of state parties, the ICC oversight body”.

Since the ICC issued the warrant of arrest on March 4,2009,President Bashir has visited seven states, which include Eritrea, Egypt, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, none of which are signatories and parties to the ICC.

This was the second time Uganda extended an invitation to the Sudanese President to take part in an international conference within her territory.

In July, Uganda back-tracked on an invitation it had sent to President Bashir for another summit, on Partnership Dialogue Conference, and asked Sudan to send another official instead, to avoid what Kampala had termed as “diplomatic accident”.

The Ugandan Minister of State for International Affairs, Henry Okello Oryem, was quoted as reaffirming that President Bashir would definitely be arrested if he comes to Uganda, despite a phone call from Museveni to Bashir apologizing for the statement.

Khartoum expressed fury at Kampala’s action and utterances. Khartoum immediately demanded for the immediate sacking of Minister Okello Oryem from the Ugandan cabinet, and accused Uganda of breaching the AU resolution made in July ,which urged African countries not to cooperate with the ICC in enforcing the arrest warrants.

But in spite of the AU resolution, several African countries, including Botswana and South Africa, have said they wont arrest Bashir if he enters their countries..

Meanwhile, preliminary section of the summit opened yesterday [Monday} in the Commonwealth Resort at Munyonyo ,Kampala, with a call to African leaders to address the causes of refugees.

Addressing the executive council, political affairs Commissioner, Julia Dolly Jainer, said displacement of people cannot be resolved by humanitarian aid alone

Improvement in governance among rapid economic development, more appropriate food security strategies and a whole range of actions will ensure that many of the root cause of displacement are addressed

This preliminary session was opened by Ugandan Prime Minister Apollo Nsibambi.

Ends

leooderaomolo@yahoo.com
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Subject: The Arrest Warrant scared President Bashir skips the Kampala Summit