November 2, 2009 (WASHINGTON) – The major rebel groups in Darfur today said they were not surprised over statements made by one member of the African Union High level panel on Darfur (AUPD) yesterday.

The AUPD was headed by former South African president Thabo Mbeki and established for the purpose of creating a roadmap to resolve the Darfur crisis through reconciling elements of peace, justice and reconciliation.

The formation of the commission by the AU was in response to the imminent issuance of an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir.

The pan-African body opposed the indictment and called on the UN Security Council (UNSC) to defer it for 12 months. However, following non-action by the council, the AU issued a resolution asking it members not to cooperate with the ICC in apprehending Bashir.

The decision overshadowed the work of the panel and fueling skepticism that the AU wants to shield the Sudanese president through recommending that he not face trial, something Mbeki has denied.

But on Sunday, one member of the panel said that their main goal was to protect Bashir.

“Incriminating the president is out of question and fundamentally unacceptable” Ahmed Maher, the former Egyptian foreign minister said in an interview with the Egypt based Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper.

“Our goal was to find a way out [to Bashir] from the dilemma of the ICC that sparked a great deal of controversy,” Maher said.

The AUPD member, who served as Egypt’s Foreign Minister from 2001 until 2004, said that the ICC case against Bashir was “political” in nature and “biased” against the Sudanese head of state “with exaggeration in depicting the situation”.

“Demanding the prosecution of an African head of state before an international tribunal is totally unacceptable” the former Egyptian top diplomat said.

Abdel-Wahid Al-Nur, who heads the legacy Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) said that “it was clear what the mission of the panel was”.

“Even little children or criminals in Darfur can tell you that Mbeki and his commission were out there to save Bashir from ICC. We were aware of this from day one” Al-Nur said.

“We appreciate the honesty of Ahmed Maher. Perhaps he had an awakening of his conscience and decided to speak out the truth. We appreciate that. He should be applauded for his frankness not condemned we think” he added.

The spokesperson of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Ahmed Hussein said that Maher’s remarks “warrant an explanation by Mbeki”.

“It doesn’t surprise us what he [Maher] said but at the same time if Mbeki cares about his credibility then he should make a clear and unequivocal statement that this is not the position he takes” Hussein said.

The JEM official said that no final position has been made by the movement yet on the report adding that they are still being reviewed.

Alex De Waal, a Sudan expert who was also an adviser to the panel, wrote in his blog saying that Maher “signed on to the report of the Panel without any reservation so I would imagine that his comments should be taken as a personal view only, not reflecting any of the Panel discussions”.

He also said that people “should examine the record of Minister Maher’s participation in the activities of the Panel. I did not see him a single time in Darfur or Khartoum”.

Mbeki now heads an implementation mechanism for the recommendations established by the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) during its meeting last week in which it endorsed the report.

(ST)