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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sun Jul 25 2010 - 13:14:32 EDT
Bashir to miss AU summit, Sudan snubs Uganda-sources
Sun Jul 25, 2010 11:59am GMT
* Bashir to miss AU summit in Uganda
* Sudan snubs host Uganda, no ministers to attend
* Diplomatic rift between neighbours deepens
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM, July 25 (Reuters) - Sudan President Omar Hassan al- Bashir will
not attend an African Union summit in Uganda, presidential sources said on
Sunday, despite a resolution urging African states not to arrest the leader
wanted for genocide.
In a further snub, Khartoum will not even send a minister from Khartoum to
the summit, official sources said.
The move deepens a rift between the neighbours after President Yoweri
Museveni did not attend Bashir's swearing-in after disputed elections, but
visited Juba for the inauguration of South Sudan President Salva Kiir,
Bashir's deputy.
"This is not about the president being afraid of being arrested," one
presidential source told Reuters. "We could send the vice president instead
but we are not sending him or any minister," the source said.
The International Criminal Court added genocide this month to charges issued
last year against Bashir of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the
war-torn Darfur region where the United Nations estimates a humanitarian
crisis has claimed 300,000 lives since a 2003 revolt by rebels demanding
more wealth and power.
DOUBLE STANDARDS
But the AU has accused the court of double standards and of targeting the
continent. A draft AU resolution seen by Reuters on Saturday in Kampala told
member states not to arrest Bashir.
Bashir himself rarely fails to attend an AU summit and, intent on wooing its
African allies, Sudan always sends high-level representation to the
meetings.
The Sudanese permanent representative to the AU will head the delegation,
the sources said.
The snub also follows a diplomatic faux pas by Uganda which retracted a
statement last month that Bashir was not invited to the summit after
Khartoum asked the AU to switch venue.
In defiance of the ICC warrant Bashir visited Chad last week -- the first
time he has travelled to a full member of the court -- and returned
triumphantly praising African solidarity.
The visit exposed the ICC's key weakness -- it has no police force and
relies on member states to arrest suspects.
Uganda asked the ICC to investigate its northern rebellion and the court
issued its first arrest warrants for commanders from the Ugandan insurgent
Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).
Museveni also has a strong relationship with south Sudan, a semi-autonomous
region which has fought a bloody civil war on and off with Khartoum since
1955.
The south will vote in a referendum on independence in January 2011, and
most analysts expect it will secede.
C Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved
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