From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Thu Oct 15 2009 - 09:17:33 EDT
Museveni: Sudan's President Bashir can visit Uganda
Emmanuel Gyezaho
October 15, 2009
Entebbe
Uganda will not execute an international arrest warrant issued against
Sudanese leader Gen. Omar El Bashir in the event he attends next week's
African Union (AU) meeting in Kampala, President Museveni said yesterday.
Mr Museveni made the revelation while addressing a news conference at State
House Entebbe where he confirmed that President Bashir had been invited, and
was free to attend the AU's special summit on refugees, returnees and
internally displaced persons in Africa slated for October 19 in Kampala,
without the apprehension of a possible arrest.
"Yes, we invited him, he is a head of state of an African country," said Mr
Museveni.
A wanted man by the International Criminal Court for his alleged role in the
Dafur crisis, President Bashir will be comforted by Mr Museveni's comments
which will rekindle fresh debate on the relevance of the ICC and the
commitment of member states in meeting obligations to the Court such as
executing arrest warrants.
Uganda is a signatory to the Rome Statute establishing the ICC. Early this
year, Uganda was at the centre of a row over an invitation to the Sudan
President to attend the Smart Partnership Dialogue in Kampala revolving
around whether the country would meet its moral and legal obligations by
arresting Gen. Bashir if he made the trip to Kampala.
Despite prodding by ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo to execute the
warrants, Uganda advised Gen. Bashir against making the trip.
"When the ICC warrant came out, our position in the African Security
Committee was let us not condemn Gen. Bashir, let us not condone him but let
us do our own investigation. That is how President Thabo Mbeki was appointed
to do further research in the allegations so that Africa takes its own
position from what Thambo Mbeki says," Mr Museveni added.
Fate of CBS
President Museveni also spoke out for the first time since holding private
talks with Kabaka Ronald Mutebi about the fate of shut down radio stations
and offered no clear indication on when the media outlets will be reopened.
He defended the government's clamp down on the media following last month's
violent uprising in several central districts and said while journalists
have a duty to "enjoy your rights, you must respect the rights of others."
"Like the day we closed CBS, they were promoting insurrection; mukwate
ejambia mwelwaneko, (you take pangas and fight. )You think we were going to
allow that?" the President asked, adding; "And now there is calm in Uganda,
and there is civilised conduct. But people were behaving as if they are wild
animals; promoting sectarianism, how can that be allowed?"
Mr Museveni had summoned reporters to speak about the health of the Ugandan
economy, reiterating comments made at the 47 Independence celebrations that
Uganda's economy was performing above expectation.
Asked to comment about efforts to straighten relations between Buganda
Kingdom and his regime, Mr Museveni said he was involved in private dialogue
with Kabaka Mutebi telling reporters, "You just wait."
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