Indicting President Bashir Will not bring Peace To Darfur – Dr Akec Khock Sudanese Ambassador to the United States
By Ajong Mbapndah L
As if the conflict in the Darfur Region had not done enough to soil the international image of Sudan, President Omar El Bashir made further headlines by becoming the first sitting to be indicted by the International Criminal Court –ICC.Reactions to the indictment were varied, while it was hailed by human right bodies, the Arab League and the African Union expressed solidarity with President Bashir. Backed by this and relatively strong support from his followers, President Bashir has dared the ICC to match the indictment with action. In the wake of the indictment, Bashir has visited Darfur itself and traveled to Eritrea and Qatar. It has been a very busy time for other Sudanese Officials as they try to do damage control.
For one who served as a close Aide to the late iconic Southern Sudanese leader and Vice President of Sudan Dr John Garang, Dr Akec Khock the Sudanese Ambassador to the USA cuts quite a dashing demeanor. His may not be the fiery rhetoric used by other Sudanese Officials but in very measured and persuasive logic, Ambassador Akec says not only will the indictment jeopardize ongoing efforts to resolve the conflict in Darfur, but may also throw a spanner in the works of the Comprehensive Peace Accords which ended decades of bloody conflicts with Southern Sudan. In an interview with Ajong Mbapndah L, for PAV, Dr Akec dwells on the complexities of the indictment, a deeper understanding of the conflict in Darfur, scape-goating International NGOs, past and ongoing efforts to resolve the conflict and more.
PAV: What is your reaction to the recent indictment of President El Bashir by the International Criminal Court –ICC?
Ambassador Akec Khock: The Government of Sudan strongly rejects and denounces the arrest warrant issued on President Bashir for reasons I will explain in the course of this interview.
PAV: Is Sudan a signatory to the ICC –if so does this not make it binding for her to adhere to its principles and decisions? If not what does your country think of the ICC, the logic behind its creation and the way it has operated this far?
Ambassador Akec Khock: Sudan is not a signatory to the Rome or ICC statutes and is not legally bound by its decisions. The Sudanese Judiciary is competent and transparent enough and should look into all matters of human rights violations and other alleged crimes in Darfur. The principle of Judicial Complimentarily ought to apply in the case of Sudan and Darfur for that matter. This complimentarily has so far been rejected in the ICC relationship with my country. The ICC was formed by a decision of the United Nations Security Council and the situation in Darfur was also referred to the ICC by the same political Institution –the U N Security Council. Sudan sees the decision of the ICC to be politically motivated rather than legal .The ICC one must also note has so far targeted only Africans.
PAV: The origin of the warrant is the crisis in the Darfur.Besides the images many see on TV or the sordid tales in newspaper pages, little is known about the origin of the crisis, can Ambassador Akec shed more light on the crisis and the situation in Darfur at the moment?
Ambassador Akec Khock: At the moment to start with, the situation in Darfur is calm following the recent peace talks in Doha, Qatar. There have not been many military incidents. The humanitarian assistance is going on even with the expulsion of thirteen NGOs by my country for having cooperated and coordinated with the ICC in fomenting the warrant of arrest on my President. A number of other local and international NGOs have come to fill the gap so there are no difficulties.
Now for the root causes of the conflict, there are three major ones, economic, political and social. Economic causes are that the Darfur people feel there are marginalized .Unfortunately this is an area which is very far from the capital and does not have resources of its own and when there are no roads to that part of the country investment tends to be difficult. The potential to employ is therefore low and this coupled with climate change makes things tough. Drought has been one of the major causes of the conflict in that the people of Darfur who are either agriculturalists or pastoralists compete fiercely for the scarce resources and this fuel tensions.
Politically, the people of Darfur feel there are not sufficiently represented in government but that is a question under debate because many people also in Sudan feel that there are more represented than other regions in the East, South, and North.
Another sticking point for the conflict is land as some people in Darfur feel there have been displaced whereas the government thinks there have been displaced because of insecurity which is created by opposition forces. These are some of the major causes of the conflicts in Darfur but we hope that with political determination, a solution will soon be found so that everyone enjoys stability and development in the Sudan.
PAV: May we know what efforts have been deployed this far by the Sudanese Government in seeking a lasting solution to the crisis?
Ambassador Akec Khock: The Sudanese Government has not rested at all in finding a solution to the conflict in Darfur. At the national level, a number of forums to suggest solutions have taken place since 2004. There was a Darfur-Darfur dialogue, there have been various intergovernmental consultations between the government of Sudan and Darfur, and just recently in 2008, there was the people of Sudan Initiative which sat for over a month to study causes and suggest prescriptions for a solution to the conflict in Darfur. It is on the basis of this People of Sudan Initiative that the recent Doha peace talks held in February this year were done.
Again to regional and international conferences, Abache, a town in Eastern Chad witnessed the conclusion of a cease fire agreement in 2004, N’Djamena, capital of Chad, has seen numerous several peace talks, Sirte in Libya has also up to 2007 been the seat of peace talks, Asmara in Eritrea did same and now Doha in Qatar. Let me not forget that Abuja in Nigeria in May 2006 the Darfur peace agreement was concluded.Atleast, regional bodies, the African Union, the United Nations, and the Arab League have assisted Sudan in the quest for a lasting solution and we are grateful for that.
PAV: We have heard of the African Union force, a United Nations force, how do you appraise the role played by the international community in bringing an end to the crisis?
Ambassador Akec Khock: The international community has contributed seriously towards ending the crisis. Indeed its place in the resolution of the crisis is highly appreciated by the government of Sudan and the Darfur community and its inhabitants. We have felt the support of the International community in humanitarian assistance to alleviate the living conditions of the people while we search for peace. We have had their assistance in the protection of the internally displaced and of humanitarian convoys. The United Nations Mission to Sudan and the United Nations African Mission in Darfur has been working to protect internally displaced persons and humanitarian convoys before a comprehensive peace settlement is reached. The international community has also encouraged and facilitated the re-energized peace process through the African Union-United Nations joint mediator H: E Djibril Bassole at the recent Doha peace talks. Sudan is grateful to all countries and institutions that are helping us to resolve the conflict.
PAV: Within a relatively short period, after the ICC decision, President Bashir has visited Darfur a couple of times; could the domestic and international reaction usher in fresh prospects for a lasting solution?
Ambassador Akec Khoc:Domestic opinion could help usher in relative peace in Darfur in that the actors in the conflict -the people of Sudan and leaders of the opposition are members of the same community- so if the public is encouraging them to come to the negotiating table they will come. We have seen this in the South a number of times in 1972 when we signed peace agreements .It was the South-South dialogue that led to the North –South dialogue which was helped by the International community and the Organization of African Unity at the time. So the same lessons could be useful here. The international community through its assistance in facilitating the mediation as it just did in Doha and has done in other places is helping to bring about comprehensive peace in the Sudan. There is no conflict that has a border- a conflict will always spill over to neighbouring countries and reach very far across oceans so it is better for the international community and the region to contain any problems at the local level. We welcome all efforts to help us resolve conflicts.
PAV: What do you make of the reaction of the Sudanese people, the African Union, Arab League and others to the decision of the ICC to indict President Bashir?
Ambassador Akec Khoc: The reaction of the Sudanese people shows support for the President and a rejection of the ICC decision and it is on the basis of this that the African Union and the Arab League have premised their own rejection. This decision is flawed and will not bring about peace. We are looking for peace in Darfur and President El Bashir who led the peace process to the rightful conclusion in the South in 2005, in Darfur in 2006, and in Eastern Sudan in 2007 is the rightful person to lead this peace process. So with the support of the African Union, the Arab League, Non Aligned Movement, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, and the International Community, his presence is necessary and will lead to peace in Sudan
PAV:Most humanitarian agencies are been expelled or given a dateline to leave the country, what is the grievance of the Sudanese Government against them and how does the government plan to cope with the humanitarian crisis that may escalate once these agencies all close shop?
Ambassador Akec Khoc: I would say only 13 NGOs have been expelled from the country and there are no more that would be expelled. These thirteen NGOs admitted having passed information to the ICC Prosecutor General Louis Moreno Ocambo which is been used against President Bashir.Not only does the Government have record of this but the information passed on is not real and factual. This has been nothing but political propaganda to taint the image of the government of President Bashir.The expelled NGOs were taking care of medical facilities and distributing food in Darfur-well there were not the donors, the donor agencies like the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization, still remain in Sudan and these organizations still bring in food and render health services and a number of local and international NGOs in Sudan are available to continue with the services of the expelled NGOs. There may be shortages interms of highly qualified medical personnel for instance but you do with what you have because expelled NGOs by passed their mandate and the sovereignty of the country will not allow them to continue working without a reaction.NGOs that will work with government of Sudan in strict compliance of contractual terms are welcome
PAV: Does the indictment of President Bashir and the Conflict in Darfur pose a threat to the peace accords that ended the conflict in Southern Sudan?
Ambassador Akec Khoc: The warrant of arrest on President Bashir certainly poses a serious threat to the peace accord in Southern Sudan. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement-CPA was signed with President Bashir and his party so if there is anybody that can oversee its implementation to the letter, it is President El Bashir who signed it. The conflict in Darfur is diverting the attention of the International Community to that region and its national resources are been diverted there as well. This means less for Southern Sudan and without development in the Southern Sudan; the CPA does not have dividends and will have no value. Hence the warrant of arrest and the conflict in Darfur are most likely to affect the CPA.
This is not to say the implementation of the CPA is going smoothly, yes there are hiccups here and there but it is better to continue with the targets, the elections soon, and the referendum in 2011 .There is no one else who may be able to oversee the implementation of the CPA and maybe respect the outcome of the referendum more than President Bashir who signed it.
PAV: Besides the situation in Darfur what are the other economic and political realities in Sudan today?
Ambassador Akec Khoc: Sudan by so many indicators is one of the fastest growing countries in Africa. Its GDP has increased thirteen fold over the last two years, we are an oil producing country, and there are other natural resources. By World Bank estimates Sudan is a fast growing country. The conflict in the Darfur is a serious political handicap; our hope is to see the conflict resolved so that multi-party democracy can flourish as well.
PAV: Any reason why you think the international community and western countries will seek to undermine the government of Sudan and President Bashir as some of your compatriots think?
Ambassador Akec Khoc:It is mainly human rights positions labeled on us that guide the reactions of the international community and western governments in my mind to seek to destabilize the Sudan and the Presidency of El Bashir.There might be other hidden agendas that I do not personally see but many people think that by not cooperating with the international community, President Bashir is been punished by a warrant of arrest from the ICC with the believe that it could destabilize his authority and even lead to regime change. This is one of the explanations I have seen come from my authorities.
PAV: Thanks Mr. Ambassador for granting us this interview.
Ambassador Akec Khoc: Thank you, you are most welcome
Also published in www.panafricanvisions.com
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