Besieged leader asks the South for backing

Southern Sudan parties on Sunday staged a rally in Khartoum in support of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir following a warrant issued for his arrest by the Hague-based International Criminal Court.

Sunday’s rally was the second public appearance by President Bashir since the ruling by the court on Wednesday.

This time, it was a new ball game as the President was first  presented with Southern Sudan regalia among them a special monkey skin cap, leopard skin jacket and a spear before the Southerners, among them Dr Lam Akol, a former Foreign minister presented their case why they oppose the court’s plea.

Speaking in Arabic, Dr Akol said the ICC is a voluntary court and is not one of the organs of the UN and many nations, among them the US, Russia and Israel, are not members.

He said: “If the ICC is really a court of law, then all should be treated equally before it. It is just a political tool by those who would like to effect a political change in Sudan and we, as SPLM, since we are part of the government of national unity, why would we want a regime change?’’

Dr Akol, who is member of the Sudan’s national Parliament, said chances President Bashir would be arrested were nil as the court has no powers to arrest anyone.

But for the second time, the President of the Southern Sudan government, Mr Salva Kiir, who is also First Vice-President in the national government, was missing at a rally on the warrant.

The previous night

On Thursday, Mr Kiir did not attend a rally close to the President’s palace denouncing the warrant, even though he was with the President at a Cabinet meeting earlier that morning.

And the previous night, it was the Second Vice-President Mr Ali Osman Taha, who issued a statement denouncing the ICC warrant.
Mr Kiir is the chairman of a national committee formed to address the effects of the indictment.

Asked to explain Mr Kiir’s absence at the rallies, Dr Akol said: “Why not ask him. I cannot speak for him.’’ Later, President Bashir headed for Darfur, the place where the ICC alleges he committed war crimes, before he can hold a rally in the South, the stronghold of the ex-rebel Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement (SPLM).

At Sunday's rally, Mr Joseph Lagu, a former vice-president, said he was proud to be Sudanese and that Sudan offers a lesson to other African freedom fighters. He described President Bashir as the ‘‘new Mandela in Africa’s quest for freedom.’’

Mr Bona Malwal, an advisor of the President said the arrest warrant was a political gimmick against Sudan and its stability.