Category: Politics

{The International Criminal Court (ICC) has written to the government seeking an explanation over the failure to arrest embattled Sudanese president Omar-El-Bashir, who was in the country last week to attend President Museveni’s sixth swearing-in ceremony.}

The presiding Judge Cuno Tarfusser in a May 17 communiqué directed the court’s registry, which is responsible for external affairs, to request “competent authorities of the Republic of Uganda to submit by June 24, their observations with respect to their failure to arrest and surrender Omar-El-Bashir while present on the territory of Uganda.”

The letter was also countersigned by two other Judges March Perrin de Brichambaut and Chang-ho Chung.

The ICC’s regional outreach coordinator Maria Kamara confirmed the existence of the document, saying: “it is just a request for a submission.”

The request for submission comes on the heels of a diplomatic protest memo the court tendered to Ugandan authorities on May 11, a day before the swearing–in, reminding the government “of their obligations, as a State Party, to cooperate with the immediate arrest and surrender of President Bashir to the Court, pursuant to article 89(1) of the Statute, in the event that he attends the said ceremony.”

“To the date of this report, no reply to the above-mentioned note verbale, has yet been received from the authorities of the Republic of Uganda,” the confidential note sent to the Foreign Affairs ministry last week reads in part.

It further states that: “The Registry requests guidance from the Chamber on the steps to be taken with respect to the visit of Mr Bashir to Uganda.”

President Bashir, who is wanted by the Hague-based court, was in the country at the invitation of government. He is wanted on two counts of crimes against humanity and genocide of more than 300,000 deaths in Sudan’s Darfur region.

The court issued double warrants for him in 2009 and 2010 on the same. Copies of the warrants were served to government.

He flew into the country last Thursday, the day of the swearing-in ceremony and departed immediately after. His attendance rattled diplomats from the European Union and US government who stormed out of the ceremony at Kololo Independence Grounds, and after President Museveni made disparaging remarks about the court as he introduced the Sudanese president.

President Museveni is a celebrated critic of the court who, when usually in company of other African leaders, accuses it of being a tool of Western powers to witch-hunt leaders on the continent and have threatened to withdrawal from the Rome Statute.

The court handles four major international crimes of aggression, war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

Mr Okello-Oryem, the State minister for Foreign Affairs, told Daily Monitor yesterday, that they will respond to the letter “directly in line with the President’s position which is very clear.”

“There is no reason for ICC to be confrontational, because our stand as a continent is that it is a tool used by the West to target African leaders,” he said.

{The US and other world powers have said they are ready to arm Libya’s UN-backed unity government to help it fight the self-styled Islamic State (IS) group.}

Speaking in Vienna, US Secretary of State John Kerry said world powers would back Libya in seeking exemption from a UN arms embargo.

He said IS was a “new threat” to Libya and it was “imperative” it was stopped.
Last month, the Libyan government warned that IS could seize most of the country if it was not halted soon.

After holding talks with international partners, Mr Kerry said: “The GNA [Government of National Accord] is the only entity that can unify the country. It is the only way to ensure that vital institutions… fall under representative and acknowledged authority.
“It is the only way to generate the cohesion necessary to defeat Daesh [IS].”

Risks ahead, by Rana Jawad, the BBC’s North Africa Correspondent
The requested arms embargo “exemption” for Libya will need to be approved by the UN Sanctions Committee before it comes into force.

But the Libyan government’s formal request for it signals that they have been given assurances that it would soon be approved.

Libya remains a country where multiple administrations are still bickering over who is in charge. Armed groups in western Libya, reputed for their shifting allegiances, only loosely back the new government, and there is no clear chain of command.

There is a risk that future arms shipments will either fall into the wrong hands, or exacerbate the civil conflict there between rival militias.

Mr Kerry said support for arming the government was part of a package of measures agreed at the meeting, which included accelerating non-military aid to Libya.

He said that as well as countering IS, the GNA should take full control of Libyan ministries, backed by the international community.

A joint statement from the countries attending drew attention to Libya’s role as a major transit point for migrants trying to reach Europe.

“We look forward to partnering with the GNA and neighbouring countries to tackle the threat posed throughout the Mediterranean and on its land borders by criminal organisations engaged in all forms of smuggling and trafficking, including in human beings,” it said.

“We are ready to respond to the Libyan government’s requests for training and equipping the presidential guard and vetted forces from throughout Libya.”

But the prime minister of Libya’s unity government, Fayez Sarraj, warned major challenges lay ahead, saying taking on IS would require further outside help.
“We urge the international community to assist us,” he said.

“We are not talking about international intervention, we are talking about international assistance in training, equipping our troops and training our youths.”

The North African country has been in chaos since Nato-backed forces overthrew long-time ruler Col Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011.

Until recently it had two rival governments competing for power, and there are still hundreds of militias, some allied to IS.

Western nations hope the unity government will take on IS, which has a foothold in Sirte – the home town of Gaddafi.

The militant group has launched a series of suicide bombings and attacks on oil facilities in the country.

{Cape Town – A decision to fire a president cannot be in the hands of five people in a democracy, former Independent Electoral Commission chairperson Brigalia Bam has said.}

Speaking on the sidelines of the Franschhoek Literary Festival, Bam said a new system was needed in the country for elections.

She said the current system was right in the beginning of democracy, but it was time for it to evolve, and South Africa had to find a system that suited it.

“You cannot run a democratic state where key decisions of firing a president are made by five people, because it is in the hands of the party. The people who went to fire Thabo [Mbeki] were five, for an example,” she said.

Bam said the current system was right in 1994 and the following years, because people did not know the parties, or leaders.

“I couldn’t have voted for you because there were no systems for us to communicate, so we had to rely on the parties to choose people for us,” she said.

The country has ended up with a system that puts the power in the hands of a party, she said.

“Judging by public opinion now, people want him [President Jacob Zuma] to go, but the party position is he must stay, so he stays,” she said.

Bam was in the festival discussing her book Democracy: More than just elections.

She said the country needed a system that allowed for broader participation.

Where there was enough accountability to the voter, she said.

As it stood, she said, the opposition could scream and say the right things, but that would be waste of time, as the control in all parties was with the top six.

She called for a system where people in wards and municipalities decided who was going to be their representatives, instead of having someone chosen by the party and presented to the area.

“Let them make a mistake, let this person be accountable to the ward, be scared of them and respect them,” she said.

At present, these ward councillors were only afraid of the ANC, she said, and not the residents they were supposed to be working for.

“It shouldn’t matter which party put you there, you should be accountable to us, in a ward,” she said.

Bam, together with political economist Moeletsi Mbeki and City Press editor Ferial Haffajee were discussing the strategies needed to protect South African’s democracy.

Bam was questioned on the idea of free and fair elections and the challenges faced to run such elections.

She said political parties were essential in the running of free and fair elections, and how they campaigned played a part.

“Right now it’s desperate, everyone wants to be on a list, everyone wants to have the job, and it can get violent,” she said.

{U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Sunday with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman for talks on the conflicts in Syria, Libya and Yemen ahead of larger meetings on those crises in Europe this week.}

Kerry was also scheduled to meet Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, deputy crown prince and foreign minister. His visit comes at a critical time in efforts to rein in fighting and encourage political dialogue in all three countries that have been wracked by violence for years.

Kerry is trying to shore up the shaky truce in Syria, which has been fraught with violations on both sides. While the U.S. and its partners accuse the government of the vast majority of breaches, they have also acknowledged violations by the opposition.

The situation has been further complicated by the intermingling of some western and Arab-backed rebels with groups such as the al-Qaida affiliate, known as the Nusra Front, which the U.N. has designated a terrorist organization and therefore not covered by the truce. Saudi Arabia and the U.S. have rejected attempts by Russia to get those rebels placed on the U.N. terrorist list.

Kerry travels later Sunday to Vienna where he will co-host group talks on Libya with Italy’s foreign minister and then on Syria with his Russian counterpart. He will then visit Brussels for a meeting of NATO foreign ministers before flying on to Asia to meet President Barack Obama in Vietnam.