Blog Posts in International Criminal Court
No Guarantees From Sudan Parties' Referendum Agreement
This Monday, the two main parties in Sudan arrived at a breakthrough in negotiations necessary for moving forward on key components of the North-South peace agreement signed in 2005. The ruling National Congress Party, or NCP, and its southern counterpart, the Southern People’s Liberation Movement, agreed on legislation whose provisions will govern how three crucial votes—a referendum for South Sudan’s independence set for 2011, popular consultations for areas in the North-South border region, as well as a vote in Abyei to determine whether it will join the North or the South—will be carried out.
This agreement is an essential step in the push for peace in Sudan, but is only one step out of many more to come. Following a parliamentary vote on these agreements set to occur this week, the two parties will have to continue to cooperate on actual implementation of what they have (only) on paper and in words, promised. Very few details (besides the agreement that a 51% majority and a 60% turnout will validate the South’s referendum) on the deal have emerged, but some actions will quickly have to take place, including appointments to the Southern and Abyei Referendum Commissions.
However, Sudanese history shows that the two parties’ agreement on paper may mean very little in practice, and that backsliding from either party may quickly occur. Given the eleventh-hour nature of the compromise, the agreement may simply be an act of brinksmanship on the part of the NCP—of waiting just before a conflagration breaks out to concede, then quickly going back on its word.
A case in point: the NCP's show of good will Sunday night was quickly followed by a crackdown of political opposition Monday morning. The regime’s use of tear-gas and arrest of almost 50 protestors demonstrate that the environment of political intimidation will not be going away any time soon. Notably, the NCP is still not budging on reforms to the National Security Law, which in its current form allows for arbitrary arrests and detention. As long as the central government retains these and other extraordinary powers, the center v. periphery dynamic at the root of so much conflict in Sudan will undoubtedly remain. If the NCP is allowed to steal the elections next April, as looks more and more likely, this dynamic will become even more firmly entrenched.
But, there is also room for optimism and action. The international community can and should seize this opportunity to hold the two parties to what they have promised, enacting consequences at the first sign of equivocation. As Sudan inches closer to fulfilling these hallmarks of the peace process, the full weight of international pressures and vigilance is more crucial than ever.
Photo: South Sudanese President Salva Kiir with officials from the Government of South Sudan.
Sudan UN Ambassador Spouts Off, Again
Sudan’s U.N. Ambassador Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad is on the defense again, this time responding to increasingly sharp rhetoric from the International Criminal Court and international criticism of the government’s crackdown on political opposition on Monday. The ambassador did not disappoint, as he yet again tried to rewrite history.
Speaking to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Mohamad said with indignation that not only would Sudan never comply with an ICC warrant to hand over Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, but that the president should be credited with ending the North-South war in Sudan.
Mohamad strongly defended al-Bashir -- the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC -- saying he is one of the best leaders in Africa. "He put an end to the longest civil war in Africa. The Security Council of the U.N. itself recognized and commended our president. He cannot overnight be a criminal, a war criminal."
Last night, the State Department and Special Envoy Major General Scott Gration released a statement condemning “the use of violence against and detentions of peaceful protestors and opposition political figures by Sudanese authorities.” In his response, Mohamad seemed to suggest that the arbitrary detention of political opposition is common practice around the world:
It is a very simple issue -- an unlawful demonstration in which the government asked the organizers to seek permission. This happens everywhere in the world, here in the U.S., the UK, in Europe, Africa, and elsewhere.
Of course, Mohamad also couldn’t help doing some more name-calling.
What is going on in the United States is really amazing. He (Gration) is standing like a student listening to war-mongers telling him what to do in Sudan. We call for engagement, not confrontation.
These remarks from the Sudanese ambassador are extremely revealing, if only of a regime that is fiercely intransigent and buried deep in denial. A regime, in other words, that will do anything to hold onto power.
Photo: Sudan's UN Ambassador, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad.
What Classified Annex?
At last Friday’s State Department daily press briefing, spokesman Ian Kelly attempted to limit the fallout from Special Envoy Major General Scott Gration’s insistence before the House Subcommittee on African and Global Health that no confidential annex to the administration’s Sudan policy existed. Here’s a look at the transcript:
QUESTION: A question about General Gration’s testimony yesterday. I believe when Secretary Clinton announced the Sudan policy, she indicated that there was a classified annex that dealt with incentives and sanctions, but he said yesterday on the Hill that, in fact, there is no classified annex. Can you clarify that?
MR. KELLY: Yeah. Let me just clarify exactly what we’re talking about here. The Secretary – her reference to a classified annex was a reference to a body of certain classified documents that were used in the creation of the Sudan strategy that was approved by the interagency process. The Secretary and the Administration have authorized Special Envoy Gration to discuss all such documents with members of Congress and cleared staff, as we deem appropriate. So I think it’s just a matter of definition, annex or a body of documents, but she – there is a body of documents that are under classification.
QUESTION: But he’s not calling it an annex?
MR. KELLY: Well, he said what he said.
The classified annex, or rather, working papers, has not only been the focus of attention within the Sudan advocacy and policy community, but was pitched by the administration itself as the key to pushing Sudan toward sustainable peace. Yet, if all of this was just semantics, it remains a mystery why Gration would seem so confused when asked a question about a confidential annex to which the Secretary of State and hundreds of news stories have already referred.
Photo: Special Envoy Major General Scott Gration.
Sudanese Regime Crackdown Requires Int'l Crackdown On Sudanese Regime
Today's vivid protests and arrests of senior SPLM politicians by Khartoum police clearly demonstrate that the U.S. should not be financing Sudan's electoral charade unless the laws are amended to allow for the basic requirements of a credible election.
It was fanciful of the United States and other donor nations to think that the ruling National Congress Party, or NCP, which has ruled Sudan with an iron fist and tolerated no peaceful dissent, would suddenly loosen its grip and allow peaceful elections and their necessary precursor: peaceful freedom of assembly.
As I testified last week before the Africa and Global Health Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee:
Until the parties agree to conditions that will allow a credible election, the United States and broader international community should suspend all electoral assistance. Non-credible elections should not be financed and legitimized by American taxpayers. The parties should agree to delay the election until these CPA-mandated conditions exist, because the U.S. and international community should not recognize any election that does not meet basic standards.
President Obama should recognize that any benchmarks-based policy of incentives and pressures will have no credibility unless consequences are imposed immediately when such an obvious benchmark like today's denial of a basic element of the existing North-South peace deal -- freedom of assembly for the elections -- has been violated.
Read Enough's latest report on Sudan, What To Do About Sudan Now.
Photo: Woman demonstrates in opposition rally. (AP)
Sudanese Gov't Cracks Down On Opposition
In an alarming move of oppression, the ruling party in Khartoum cracked down on an opposition rally early Monday morning, sowing further doubts about the possibility for democratic elections in April. Around 70 members of the opposition, including three senior leaders of the southern ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, or SPLM, were arrested by Khartoum police, according to the latest from major news wires.
Pagan Amum, SPLM’s Secretary General, Yassir Arman, Deputy Secretary General of SPLM in the north, and Abbas Gummas, state minister in the coalition government, were arrested during a rally in which thousands of demonstrators turned out to call for electoral reforms. Southern protestors reacted angrily to the arrests by setting fire to the ruling National Congress Party’s offices in Wau and Rumbek, two state capitals in South Sudan. The three leaders have since been released.
20 Sudanese opposition parties had called on supporters to rally outside the Sudanese parliament Monday to demand the passing of several pieces of stalled legislation. Among the oppositions’ demands were reforms to the National Security Act, which currently allows Khartoum’s security apparatus to arbitrarily arrest and detain individuals, and the passing of a referendum legislation that is crucial for South Sudan to implement its vote for secession set for 2011.
Sudanese authorities made a last minute announcement on Sunday banning the rally, calling the protest illegal because organizers had only notified authorities of the rally and did not apply for permission, according to Reuters.
The thousands of protestors who marched through Khartoum and neighboring city Omdurman chanting “We want our freedom,” were repulsed by police who used tear-gas and batons, according to several sources. Khartoum police issued a statement denying the use of tear-gas.
AFP reported that the relatives of northern opposition leaders, including the son of Hassan al-Turabi, head of the National Islamic Front, and several children and grandchildren of Sadiq al-Mahdi, head of the Umma party, were arrested. 70 other demonstrators were also detained.
In the aftermath of the arrests, the SPLM called an emergency meeting in South Sudan’s capital and issued a statement decrying the NCP’s suppression of rights:
“This arrest of the SPLM leaders is a clear sign that the elections will not be free and fair in April 2010. The NCP can arrest anybody during the elections’ campaign if they can now arrest their only partner the SPLM leaders. (…) This act by the NCP Security is a violation of the freedom of expression of the citizens’ rights in Sudan which are embedded in the CPA and the Interim National Constitution of Sudan and must be stopped and the world should hold NCP accountable if the situation deteriorated in to crisis. The SPLM condemned this move and the world must intervene to rescue the situation”
In an interview from prison on Al-Jazeera’s “This Morning” news program, Amum confirmed that multiple arrests were made. He said that the demonstration was not illegal and that the groups had informed the police 72 hours prior to the rally, as stated by law.
Stay tuned for further developments.
