To support Bashir is to share Darfur guilt

It looks like the long-suffering people of Darfur might be the innocent bystanders who become the first victims of the International Criminal Court warrant of arrest issued for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

In the wake of the arrest warrant, a defiant al-Bashir has expelled dozens of aid agencies operating in Darfur. Gunmen, presumably pro-government militia, have attacked United Nations and African Union peacekeeping troops.

It is evident that the Sudanese leader is using the Darfur people as pawns and hostages in his battle against the threat to have him tried for mass murder and crimes against humanity.

He has been emboldened in his defiance by the fact that African countries, Kenya included, have been opposed to the warrant of arrest against a brother African leader.

But if the Sudanese president is going to inflict even more suffering on the people of Darfur, then the African Union and its member states must re-think their position. President Al-Bashir was indicted for the deaths of hundred of thousands in a sectional and racial pogrom executed in Darfur.

Were it not for the presence of UN and other international aid agencies, as well as peacekeeping troops, the deadly campaign against the people of Darfur would have be even more devastating.

The African countries must take the lead in pressuring the Sudanese regime to let charity missions and peacekeeping troops operate unhindered.

They must also make it clear that their concern for the wellbeing of the people of Darfur overrides loyalty to a fellow leader of an AU-member state.

They must make it clear to Al-Bashir the if the innocent people of Darfur remain under the threat of genocide and extermination, Africa will not stand idly by, but will fully support the warrant of arrest and take whatever measures necessary to see it effected.

All African leaders who support Mr Bashir must realise that their own hands could be stained by the blood of the Darfur people.