If President Bush was still in power, he would now push hard for the arrest of el Bashir. What is interesting now is to watch how Obama will handle the issue. Will he side with the African leaders because he is a black US President supposed to help Africa where he has his roots, or will he push for Bashir’s arrest so that Bashir is held accountable on what happened in his country?

Africa, the black man’s continent, is now crippled in fear. Leaders go to bed at night in fear, not knowing whether they are the next to be blamed for killing the people they lead. They fear to�get arrested and hauled to The Hague in the a Western Capital.

The West started with Charles Taylor. The man was fooled by the West to resign as Liberia’s President and granted asylum in the neighbouring country, Nigeria. It did not take long before he was arrested there and flown to The Hague where he may face a life sentence if dound guilty of killings.

Now the man of Sudan President Bashir has been indicted and is a wanted man. He is no longer free to travel out of Sudan. However, being defended now by other African leaders who say African leaders are being harassed, Bashir may still be able to travel to other African countries and Arab-led countries. He is not expected to make a foolish mistake and travel to any Western nation.

Is this development good for Africa?

Now we see that the Kenyan leaders may also be hauled to The Hague if they do not agree to establish a local tribunal to try those involved in the election violence at the end of 2007.

Former UN boss Kofi Annan is said to have a list of suspects many of them Cabinet Ministers in the present coalition government led by President Kibaki. A threat has been issued to the Kenyan leaders, that failure to establish a tribunal which is independent and free to indict and try those leaders found to have been behind the killings of civilians, The Hague will be the alternative.

If Kenyan leadership is taken to ICC in�The Hague, then a question will arise: who will be the next in the continent?

President Mugabe has been accused by the West of atrocities in his country. He is still the President of Zimbabwe. He has not been threatened with a warrant of arrest yet. For Mugabe, it will not matter very much. He is 85 years old and has limited life in comparison to Bashir who is said to be in�the 50s – something like 30 years younger than President Mugabe. Bashir’s political life has now been put to an end by the case that is hanging upon him and one that he must answer.

Such a warrant gives one sleepless nights. He has to watch over his shoulders at all time because even his own security detail may be bribed and can easily drug him, bind him, and fly him out of the country – in readiness to hand him over to The Hague for trial. This will, however, depend on how much money the West may deccide to offer to any willing group willing to capture the Sudanese leader.

By Chief Editor Korir

ETHIOPIA: Urgent food supplies stuck in Djibouti

Photo: Jane Some/IRIN

Distributing relief food (file photo):Congestion at the Djibouti port, land-locked Ethiopia’s main access to the sea, is delaying food delivery to thousands affected by drought, high food prices and low global food stocks

ADDIS ABABA,� – Beneficiaries of food aid in Ethiopia could face tougher times unless supplies that are stuck in Djibouti port arrive quickly in the country, sources said.

Officials blamed congestion at Djibouti port, land-locked Ethiopia’s main access to the sea, but insisted the situation was improving.

“It was a problem during October and December,” Mitku Kassa, Ethiopia’s Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, said. “Through negotiation and discussions with the officials, especially Dubai Port World, which manages the port, and STDV, the port agency, the [situation] is improving.”

A recent joint assessment by the Ethiopian government and its humanitarian partners found that 4.9 million people would require humanitarian assistance over the next six months. The government and donors have appealed for US$389.3 million worth of food to alleviate the situation.

“A large quantity of WFP’s [UN World Food Programme] food is at the port,” Paulette Jones, WFP spokeswoman in Addis Ababa, said. “These [food] commodities are needed urgently to assist beneficiaries who are still suffering from the impact of the drought, high food prices and [low] global food stocks.”

Rations

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), January food allocations have been affected by limited resources.

Only the worst-affected areas would receive full cereal and blended food rations, based on the agreement reached by a prioritisation committee. Other beneficiaries would receive full pulse and vegetable oil rations reduced by two-thirds.

WFP said it was exploring the options of using Port Sudan and Berebera in Somaliland – which would also make it easier to deliver food to the Somali region of Ethiopia.

Meanwhile, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has warned that livestock owned by southern pastoralist families have reduced drastically over the past two decades after animals died from diseases induced by climate change and severe drought.

In a report prepared by Ethiopian and Dutch researchers, published on 26 February, the IFRC said average livestock numbers owned by households had declined from 10 to three oxen, 35 to seven cows, and 33 to six goats in Borena zone of Oromiya region.

“For families entirely dependent on their animals for income and as a food source, losses on this scale would be disastrous,” it noted.

As animals died, people became dependent on aid while dry seasons triggered local “resource conflicts” over water and pasture, the study found. “About a quarter of all households in Borena and Guji zones suffered from cattle-raiding related to conflict in the period 2004 �2008,” IFRC said.

tw/eo/mw source.www.irinnews.org

NIGERIA: Fighting lethal Lassa fever

Photo: IRIN

KANO,- Nigerian health officials are working to contain a resurgence of Lassa fever, a highly infectious disease that has killed at least eight people in the past month.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said over 93 cases of the virus had been confirmed in the capital Abuja and neighboring Nasarawa state since December.

At the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital in Edo state, confirmed cases rose by 60 percent between from December to January.

That is a major increase and furthermore these are just the cases we hear about in hospital,” Marguerite Lamunu, WHO Lassa fever expert, told IRIN. ”In reality, there will probably be many more cases and deaths in the community, plus the disease is spreading from state to state.

Lassa fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic condition transmitted through contact with the urine or faeces of rodents, especially rats and shrews. It was first discovered in 1969 in the town of Lassa in northern Nigeria’s Borno state.

Lassa fever can also be transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids and faeces of an infected person or through airborne particles, according to Osi-Ogbu.

“We have an epidemic on our hands, Ogugua Osi-Ogbu, head of Lassa fever prevention and care at the National Hospital (NHA) in Abuja, told IRIN.

The disease, which has an incubation period of one to three weeks, has become endemic in parts of West Africa, where it kills at least 5,000 people each year among 300,000 to 500,000 cases, according to WHO.

The illness is especially severe late in pregnancy, killing the foetus and/or the mother in more than 80 percent of cases.

Warning

The Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health has alerted all 36 state health ministries, directing them to step up public awareness campaigns on preventing Lassa fever.

“We have embarked on a rigorous campaign on the radio to sensitise our people on the dangers of Lassa fever, how it is contracted and effective measures to avoid infection,” Kano State Health Commissioner Aisha Isyaku Kiru told IRIN.

“We are specifically calling on the people to observe and improve community hygiene through proper refuse disposal to discourage rats from taking refuge, and keeping food and drinking water in containers not accessible to rats”, Kiru said.

According to residents many ethnic groups consume rodents, especially rats, hedgehogs and badgers.

Undergrowth is often burned to smoke out rodents for ”bush meat” as it is known locally, driving the animals to take shelter in homes, thereby increasing the risk of Lassa fever infection.

“Rodents are a source of meat to many of our people and the government needs to ban their consumption to effectively contain Lassa fever spread, said Bernard Ayorchia, a private medical doctor in the central Nigerian city of Makurdi.

Another hurdle in tackling Lassa in Nigeria is the lack of laboratories. Only two facilities, in the southern states of Lagos and Edo, are equipped to diagnose the illness.

Initial symptoms, which include headache, sore throat, muscle pain, chest pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and coughing, are similar to those of malaria, which can also make diagnosing Lassa fever difficult, according to the WHO.

Severe cases may progress to bleeding from the mouth, nose, vagina or gastrointestinal tract. In late stages seizures, shock, tremors and coma can occur.

“The government must urgently provide laboratories for diagnosing Lassa fever in all parts of the country, said NHA’s Osi-Ogbu. Early detection of the virus and a prompt response are key in saving the life of an infected person.”

WHO plans in the coming days to send an evaluation team to affected states in Nigeria�to assess the scale of the outbreak.

aa/hb/aj/np source.www.irinnews.org

SUDAN: Aid workers, peacekeepers watchful as president charged

Photo: IRIN

President Omar el-Bashir is the first head of state to be indicted by the ICC

NAIROBI,� – The indictment against Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir�by the International Criminal Court (ICC) could shrink humanitarian space due to a backlash against aid workers and peacekeepers, various analysts say.

The ICC’s pre-trial chamber announced warrants of arrests against Bashir for crimes against humanity and war crimes on 4 March. Charges of genocide were not included, although the court left open the possibility of a later amendment.

Observers fear the announcement could increase local hostility to NGOs seen as pro-western or cooperating with the ICC and could lead to expulsions.

Some aid workers left Sudan ahead of the announcement; UN agencies and NGOs have already reviewed their security protocols, in some cases moving families abroad. Even UN peacekeepers have made contingency plans.

Six aid agencies, including Oxfam and Médecins sans Frontières, moved international staff out of camps for displaced people and towns, for their own safety.

Political and security fallout

The indictment could also compromise the implementation of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and affect upcoming July elections. A collapse in the CPA would mean heightened tensions between North and South, analysts suggest.

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Southerners prefer diplomatic route

Photo: Heba Aly/IRIN

President bashir and Salva Kiir at a ceremony in October 2008

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JUBA, – Southern Sudanese leaders will work with the North to seek a political and diplomatic resolution to the decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against President Omar el-Bashir, top officials said. full report

“The indictment has the potential to derail the ongoing peace process given that Bashir and his administration were signatories to the CPA,” said Timothy Othieno of the London-based Overseas Development Institute. “With Bashir indicted… Bashir’s ability to push ahead with the CPA may stall.”

Analysts have suggested the ICC decision could also split the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), or embolden rebels to increase attacks against the government.

Franklin Graham, chief executive of the NGO Samaritan’s Purse noted that “his removal could also spur retaliation by Bashir loyalists and other forces against civilians, UN peacekeepers or international aid workers… The removal of Mr Bashir will make it harder to negotiate an end to the crisis in Sudan.”

According to Othieno, the decision would legitimise claims in Darfur of Bashir’s role in atrocities committed there, which could increase violence in Darfur, other regions of Sudan and in neighbouring countries.

“This would explain the reluctance of the GoSS [Government of Southern Sudan] to support Bashir’s indictment since Bashir’s control of the means of violence as well as power could lead to an anarchic situation,” he added.

Photo: UNICEF

The conflict in Sudan’s western Darfur region escalated in 2003

Government defiant

The Sudanese government insists it will reject any ICC decision against its leaders. “They want us preoccupied with their issues, their accusations… This is a proud people, a people that do not accept insults, do not accept humiliation,” Bashir told supporters on 3 March.

Army spokesman Osman al-Aghbash told state-owned Radio Omdurman: “The armed forces will firmly deal with whoever cooperates with the so-called International Criminal Court, and uses it as a platform for political blackmail and for destabilising the security and stability of the country.”

The North’s position is buoyed by the African Union, which has named former South African President Thabo Mbeki to lead a process of finding a comprehensive solution to the Darfur conflict, and address the question of judicial impunity.

The ICC Statute does not bind regional organisations such as the African Union, though it invites them to work with the court and the prosecutor. Experts say because the AU charter recognises the fight against impunity, it is bound to respect the statute even if Sudan is not among the 30 African signatories.

Opposing viewpoints, bias and double standards?

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, writing in the New York Times, criticised the African position. “Justice is in the interest of victims, and the victims of these crimes are African,” he noted.

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The conflict in Darfur

Photo: Derk Segaar/IRIN

Armed men from the Sudan Liberation Movement Army in Gereida town, South Darfur (file photo)

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NAIROBI, 4 March 2009 (IRIN) – The conflict in Sudan’s western Darfur region escalated in 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) principally, took up arms, accusing the government of neglecting the region. full report

“To imply that the prosecution is a plot by the West is demeaning to Africans and understates the commitment to justice we have seen across the continent.”

Prof Andre Thomashausen of the University of South Africa said the ICC was being “partisan” in the way it had handled its investigations and principles of international law.

“There is a sense that there must be international justice,” he told IRIN on 4 March. “In this case, too many people have lost everything… but the ICC must not offend the principles of international law.

“We are increasingly worried about seeing the ICC being an instrument in political processes of individual [African] countries without bothering what their constitutions or the African Union says.”

The ICC, he added, was undermining its own authority by taking sides in the Sudan conflict. “The NGOs would not like to see an escalation of the situation and the ICC must be aware that it should not lead to more suffering.”

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The case against Bashir

Photo: IRIN

ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo

NAIROBI,� (IRIN) – Presenting evidence against President Omar el-Bashir on 14 July 2008, ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Bashir had committed the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. full report

There was also suspicion about ICC activities in Africa. “The question that needs to be asked is whether there are non-African sitting heads of state who have or are suspected to have committed similar atrocities,” Othieno added. “If there is no evidence or suspicion pointing to this direction, it would definitely raise interesting questions as to the impartiality of the ICC.”

Peacekeepers on guard

At a news conference in New York, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Alan Le Roy, said he had an assurance that peacekeepers in Darfur would not come under threat.

“The government would assume its full duty of protecting UN missions in Sudan against any negative impact that may result from a possible ICC decision against the Sudanese political leadership,” he said on 2 March.

“Of course, we are making some plans as any country would have contingency planning to try to react to any situation,” he added. There are 25,000 UN personnel in Sudan.

“For the millions of Darfur victims, this landmark decision provides independent legal recognition of the massive crimes committed against them, and confirms that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Bashir is personally criminally responsible,”�deputy president of the International Crisis Group Nick Grono, said.

Eo/bdm/tm/mw/bp source.www.irinnews.org

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Bashir Down–Nkunda, Museveni Next?

As widely expected, the Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC), has issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for his role, as commander in chief of the Sudan army, for alleged war crimes in connection with the conflict in the Darfur region.
The warrant weakens his regime and he may be pushed from power as opponents are emboldened.
It is believed by many human rights activists that soon indictments will be returned on other African rogues, including Laurent Nkunda, who is now being protected by Rwanda, and Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni and even Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame.
Omar Hassan al-Bashir cannot remain president of the Sudan forever; so, eventually, he will have his day in the Hague court. Bashir had survived the warrants because under the George Bush regime, he was tolerated because his secret police worked with the CIA, sharing information about Al-Qaeda suspects.
His protector Bush departed in January; no coincidence that the arrest warrant comes this month.
No more impunity for crimes of genocide and massacres in Africa. The survivors of the countless victims want justice so that they can move on with their lives. Importantly, African dictators now see that they cannot preside over massacres simply to maintain political power. They will eventually be prosecuted.
The tide began to change when former Liberian dictator, Charles Taylor, was carted to The Hague for trial by the Special Court set up for Sierra Leone war crimes. Taylor had financed and trained vicious insurgents in Sierra Leone who became infamous for massacres as well as for mutilating and raping civilians during the civil war there.
Similarly, Uganda’s dictator Museveni, who was also a George Bush favorite, no longer has a protector in Washington. The ICC has been investigating his army, of which he, like al-Bashir, is commander-in-chief, for war crimes committed in eastern Congo. Uganda had occupied eastern Congo from 1997 to 2003. In 2005, on the civil case, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found Uganda liable of war crimes, including massacres and rapes, in addition to plunder of Congo’s wealth; Congo has demanded $10 billion in liabilities.

Another Ugandan, Joseph Kony, leader of the LRA, is also wanted by the ICC on outstanding arrest warrants in connection with crimes against humanity in northern Uganda; Museveni remains an unindicted criminal on those Uganda crimes as well, as his army has also committed atrocities there.
Laurent Nkunda is wanted for the recent round of massacres in eastern Congo by his insurgents, financed by Rwanda, according to a United Nations report. Kagame also may not be spared for the Congo atrocities.
Murderous African despots have held the continent’s economic and socio-political progress back or even reversed it in some cases to the 19th century. They have destroyed a whole generation of young people by recruiting them as child soldiers.
By prosecuting those guilty of war crimes uniformly, without bias or favor, the ICC can do much to free ordinary Africans from murderous tyranny. However, selective prosecution would destroy the ICC’s credibility and even offer a defense argument for those on trial.

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