‘Regional isolation after Al Bashir refuses AU meeting’: Jibril Ibrahim

JEM-chairman Dr Jibril Ibrahim Mohamed criticised that President Omar Al Bashir’s refusal to hold a preparatory national dialogue in Ethiopia proves his unwillingness to engage in a serious dialogue that will lead to a democratic change in Sudan. “Al Bashir now is at risk of ending up in isolation from the African region.

“The proposed alternative national dialogue is intended to buy time and distract people with a dialogue to be controlled by Al Bashir and his ruling crew,” the leader of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement told Radio Dabanga.

Last Wednesday the African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) released a communiqué on its 539th AUPSC meeting in which it reiterated its call for “an urgent pre-National Dialogue meeting of all relevant parties, at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa, to discuss and agree on procedural matters relating to the Dialogue”. The Sudan Appeal opposition coalition welcomed the decision, considering it a firm base for further negotiations with the Sudanese government.

Jibril Ibrahim said that Al Bashir now is at risk of ending up in a regional isolation that could cause friends such as Russia and China to become embarrassed to take up supportive positions to the Sudanese president in the UN Security Council.

Al Bashir announced last Sunday that he would not go to Addis Ababa, Ehtiopia, for a meeting under the auspices of the AU High-level Implementation Panel (AUHIP). He said that whoever wants a dialogue for peace should discuss that in Sudan; contrary to what the AUHIP, chaired by Thabo Mbeki, has proposed.

“By refusing to hold the meeting in Ethiopia, Al Bashir is forgetting that the African Union is the one that has provided him with cover from the International Criminal Court, which is the core concern governing Al Bashir’s actions.”

Regarding the recent decisions of the Peace and Security Council, Jibril Ibrahim said that the proposed preparatory conference in Addis Ababa would subject Al Bashir to regulation, denying him control over the process.

“By refusing to do so, Al Bashir is forgetting that the African Union is the one that has provided him with cover and protection from the International Criminal Court, which is the core concern governing Al Bashir’s actions.”

‘Urgent peace’

Sheikh Matar Younis Ali Hussein, one of the prominent religious and community leaders in Darfur, also welcomed the AU Peace and Security Council’s decisions on Sudan. “We stick to the real peace, not that of the opportunists who have participated in all the peace agreements since Abuja and Doha, but are now fighting among themselves for personal interests.”

Ali Hussein told Radio Dabanga that native and religious leaders have affirmed their commitment to the council and support its call for a preparatory dialogue under the auspices of the AUHIP, because they are in urgent need of peace in the war-torn region.

“A real and comprehensive peace will bring about freedom and justice, taking those who have committed crimes in Darfur, Blue Nile and the Nuba Mountains to the International Criminal Court.”

He added that displaced people and refugees should be compensated for their losses and repatriated to their home villages and hawakeer, which are now “occupied by new settlers”.

“The AU, the UN and the Security Council must commit Al Bashir to do so.”