From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sat Oct 03 2009 - 07:55:23 EDT
Sudan's Bashir runs for president despite warrant
Sat Oct 3, 2009 11:43am GMT
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's ruling party nominated President Omar Hassan
al-Bashir for re-election on Saturday despite an International Criminal
Court warrant to arrest him for war crimes.
The Hague-based court says the government of Bashir, who seized power in a
1989 military coup with Islamist backing, committed crimes against humanity
while fighting mostly non-Arab rebels in Darfur.
The multi-party elections set for April 2010 will be the first in Africa's
largest country in 24 years.
"The National Congress Party's General Conference has decided to support the
nomination of Omar Hassan al-Bashir as (our) candidate for the presidential
elections in 2010," the closing communique of the party conference, seen by
Reuters, said.
Since the arrest warrant was issued last year, Bashir has received full
backing from his party, which dominates the central government. He has
travelled to countries that support him, in defiance of The Hague-based
court.
The United Nations says some 300,000 people have died in Darfur, with more
than 2 million driven from their homes in violence Washington describes as
genocide. Khartoum rejects that description and puts the death toll at
10,000.
Bashir signed a north-south peace deal in 2005 ending another decades-long
civil war fought over ideology, ethnicity, religion and oil which killed 2
million people. That deal enshrined democratic transformation and set the
stage for the April vote.
The NCP is the first major political party to officially nominate a
candidate for president.
On Wednesday more than 20 Sudanese parties, along with the NCP's partners in
peace the former southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM),
threatened to boycott the vote if the NCP did not push through promised
reforms in two months.
These include legislation to ensure the independence of the media and reform
the powerful national security forces.
Parliament opens this week and must pass legislation delayed by wrangling
over content and foot-dragging by Bashir's party.
Bashir told the closing session of the party conference that he was
"committed to free and fair elections".
C Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
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