Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Khartoum (Agenzia Fides) – The disputed former ideologist of the Sudanese regime, Hassan al-Turabi, was arrested in Khartoum by security forces, two days after having said in an interview that the President of Sudan, Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, should hand himself in to the International Crime Court (ICC): “Politically we think he is culpable... He should assume responsibility for whatever is happening in Darfur, displacement, burning all the villages, rapes, I mean systematic rapes, continuously, I mean on a wide scale and the killing,” Turabi told the press. Referring to the people of Darfur, who almost all live in refugee camps, Turabi added: “Six million of the Sudanese are now paralysed, no agriculture, no animal farming or rearing. He is responsible and they condemn him.”
In July 2008, ICC Prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, accused the Sudan President on 10 indictments for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in relation to the conflict in Darfur, a region of western Sudan that has been in civil war since 2003.
Until 1999, Turabi had been the ideologist of the Sudan regime, made up of soldiers and civilians that believe firmly in Islam and that little by little became a regime against the President. He is now considered one of the major protesters of the government in Khartoum.
His recent declarations have molested Al-Bashir, who is under international pressure to resolve the Darfur question.
Turabi also said that “Sudan runs the risk of falling into a crisis even worse than Somalia, if we lose any order of authority in the constitution. We are not one people like the Somalis or one religion or one language. We are a diversity of peoples.”
President Al-Bashir is presiding a fragile coalition government made up of former rebels from the south, in accord with the agreement signed in 2005 that ended the civil war in the southern part of the country. It was the worst conflict that had struck the largest African country, and the political violence continues in several areas of Sudan. In 2011, there are plans for a referendum in which the people of South Sudan will have to decide whether to continue as members of a united Sudan or become independent. The majority of the fuel reserves in Sudan are in the south. The two parties, in spite of forming part of a government of national unity, are arming themselves in preparation for the referendum.
President Al-Bashir is also having to face the growing resentment from within his own party, the National Congress Party (NCP). The Sudanese President tried to reach an agreement with the International Crime Court: in exchange for his turning in of several Sudanese wanted for crimes in Darfur, the International Court would dismiss the accusations against Al-Bashir. Among those who would have been turned in was the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Ahmed Haroun, and the Chief of the Government Military (the infamous “Janjaweed”), Ali Mohamed Ali Abdel-Rahaman, known as Ali Kushab. This agreement, however, never came to pass and the situation has led to a strong resentment and apprehension among the party, as they feared being sacrificed by Al-Bashir in exchange for his immunity. The arrest of Turabi can be interpreted as a sign of the nervousness of the regime, on whom international pressures mount. Various experts maintain the opinion that the new American Administration, which takes office January 20, will take a more assertive approach to relations with the government in Khartoum. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 15/1/2009)
