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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Tue Nov 02 2010 - 07:09:48 EST
African heads of state may be coming down on Sudan
A meeting between African heads of state was moved from Kenya to
Ethiopia and has now been postponed. The warrant for Sudan President
Bashir's arrest could be a factor.
By Laura Heaton, Guest blogger / November 1, 2010
A high-level gathering of the east African regional body IGAD
(Intergovernmental Authority on Development), shifted from Kenya to
Ethopia to accommodate Sudanese President Bashir, has been postponed.
The meeting, focused on Sudan’s upcoming referenda, was scheduled to
begin tomorrow and is now tentatively planned for next weekend,
according to an Enough source involved in the talks who wished to
remain anonymous.
On the surface the controversy of the IGAD meeting appears as yet
another gesture to undermine the ICC and flout the court’s arrest
warrant for Bashir, but it can also be seen as a small victory.
News of Bashir’s likely attendance stirred up controversy in Kenya
just two months after Kenya’s constitution ceremony was overshadowed
by the Sudanese president’s participation. Kenya, an ICC member state,
was widely condemned for allowing Bashir to travel freely for the
ceremony, especially given its own ongoing ICC investigation into
post-election violence. A group of more than 20 human rights and civil
society organizations sent a letter to the Kenyan president and prime
minister calling on Kenya to respect its obligations as an ICC member
state and bar Bashir from traveling to Kenya.
"A visit by al-Bashir would run counter to Kenya's commitment to the
ICC. It would also send damaging signals to victims of mass atrocity
in Darfur and undermine Kenya's credibility on issues of justice," the
statement said.
The ICC itself sent a letter to Kenya on Tuesday pressing for Bashir’s
arrest if he sets foot in Kenya. A day later, IGAD announced that the
summit venue would be shifted to Addis Ababa. The head of IGAD said
the decision was, “not a big deal,” but the timing of the announcement
suggested Ethiopia was selected to host because it is not a member of
the International Criminal Court.
Once the new venue was selected, there is some speculation that the
postponement may have been tied to the resignation on Wednesday of
Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetang’ula. Another explanation is that
the logistical challenges of shifting the venue to Addis Ababa on
short notice forced the change of date. Given the long list of issues
Sudan and IGAD need to confront within a short window of time before
the referenda, it is unfortunate that the meeting is being delayed
further. Moreover, Enough’s source said he was “reasonably confident”
the meeting would indeed happen November 6 and 7.
So is this yet another disappointing example of the ICC being
conspicuously sidelined? The email discussion that the news prompted
among colleagues at Enough ultimately concluded on this positive note:
"The ICC, in my opinion is getting the finger ONLY because IGAD wants
to make the effort to accommodate Bashir, but ultimately the ICC is
winning because of the very fact that they have to move the meeting
because of the ICC. Very soon the same voices that led Kenya to change
its mind in receiving Bashir, will be loud enough to make Addis follow
suit next time, and so on. We should look at this issue as a process
that will change all minds, one country at a time..."
– Laura Heaton blogs for Enough Project at Enough Said.
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