Great Lakes muslims launch Darfur probe

• Investigation will also focus on effects of the international arrest warrant against Sudan’s President Omar al Bashir.
• First delegation will leave for Sudan on Tuesday to meet Sudanese government officials and secure permits to visit the volatile region in western Sudan.

Muslim leaders from the Great Lakes region have launched an independent investigation into the killings in Sudan’s Darfur area.

Addressing a news conference on Monday in Nairobi’s Laico Regency Hotel, the Muslim leaders said the inquiry was meant to “unearth the truth” in the war-torn region.

Also, the leaders said, focus will be on the effects of the international arrest warrant against Sudan’s President Omar al Bashir.

Kenya’s Chief Kadhi Hammad Kassim said the groups in the conflict were Muslims and the religious approach was likely to quell the conflict.

The leaders termed the inquiry by the International Criminal Court as part of “undue external interference” which did little to end the conflict.

“The ICC has come out with their report, our mission is to establish the truth in the conflict,” he said.

The ICC’s indictment of Sudan’s president led to the eviction of 10 humanitarian organisation operating in Darfur, effectively jeopardising the lives of 1.5 million refugees displaced by the conflict.

The United Nations puts the fatalities in the conflict --war, disease and hunger-- at 300,000, but the Sudanese government claims only 10,000 people have been killed.

The move by the leaders comes six years since the conflict erupted and may be dismissed as yet another move to clear President Bashir, who has the support of the African Union.

“No, we don’t want to clear Bashir. We are carrying out impartial investigation ... to reconcile the groups according to the teachings of the Quran,” Sheikh Kassim said.

The first delegation of 11 people will leave for Sudan on Tuesday to meet Sudanese government officials and secure permits to visit the volatile region in western Sudan.

The inquiry will collect evidence and hear testimonies from the victims, the rebels and also the government.

Dr Abdul Latif Shaaban, the Director General of the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims, said the inquiry “will be focused on reconciliation of the groups.”

He said:  “We don’t want to be seen as investigators, we are going there as friends, as brothers... we are all Muslims.”

The leaders who endorsed the decision were drawn from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Sheikh Kassim said the group had “extensive experience in peacemaking” and promised to release the preliminary findings “as soon as possible.”

He did not disclose the time-frame within which the matter will be handled.

The bureaucratic process of accessing Darfur --with the extensive government vetting-- could also have contributed to the uncertainty.

The Supkem’s boss also expressed doubt over the existence of the grave crimes saying information out of Darfur was tilted towards furthering western interests.

“We have to find out if all these extreme cases are just stories orchestrated to magnify the extent of the conflict,” Dr Shaaban said.

But even as the regional Muslim leaders move in with the religious approach, a special United Nations force is keeping peace in the area.

As the elections slated for April next year draw nearer, the priority is now given on having peace on the ground, even with intermittent fighting in Chad, where hundreds of refugees are holed up.