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Sudan’s labor union slams ICC conference to be held in Qatar

September 23, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese labor Union issued a strong worded statement criticizing the hosting of a conference on the International Criminal Court (ICC) by the Arab Gulf state of Qatar.

Bingu Wa Mutharika, President of Malawi, addresses the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters Thursday, Sept. 23, 2010 (AP)
Bingu Wa Mutharika, President of Malawi, addresses the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters Thursday, Sept. 23, 2010 (AP)
Last month the Qatari Attorney General Ali Bin Fetais Al-Marri met with the ICC’s registrar Silvana Arbia in the Hague where they discussed the conference originally scheduled for early October that is co-sponsored by the Arab League.

However, Sudan along with other countries has pressed Qatar to cancel the conference during the Arab League ministerial meeting held in Cairo this month. Qatar refused to call off the conference but agreed to postpone it as a compromise.

The ICC’s first-ever warrant against a sitting head of state was issued for Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir in March 2009 on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The second was issued in July 2010 on charges of genocide. Arab and African countries backed Bashir and called for it deferment by the UN Security Council (UNSC).

Sudan’s labor union called the ICC conference an attempt to infiltrate the ranks of the “honest people who refused the ICC as a tool of Zionism imperialist arrogance…what the ICC is doing today contradicts the principle of the sovereignty and independence of States and also contrary to international law, and seeks to make presidents, emirs and rulers a tool in the hands of International imperialism make”.

The pro-government body described the conference as an attempt to segregate the supportive positions of the African nations from that of the Arab League. It called on the Qatari Emir to reconsider the hosting of the conference and also urged Arab organizations to take a similar stance.

In New York, Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika, who currently holds AU’s rotating chairmanship, urged the UNSC to freeze Bashir’s warrant.

“The African Union therefore strongly appeals to the United Nations General Assembly to amend Article 16 of the Rome Statue to enable it to assume the powers of the Security Council to defer the case against President Omar Hassan el-Bashir for one year to allow ongoing negotiations and dialogue to succeed.” The Rome Statute is the treaty that established the ICC.

(ST)

3 Comments

  • telfajbago
    telfajbago

    Sudan’s labor union slams ICC conference to be held in Qatar
    “The African Union therefore strongly appeals to the United Nations General Assembly to amend Article 16 of the Rome Statue to enable it to assume the powers of the Security Council to defer the case against President Omar Hassan el-Bashir for one year to allow ongoing negotiations and dialogue to succeed.
    I stated several times that, African self-centered dictators will never catch up with millennium objectives of human rights and democracy and good governance for their greedy and selfishness. It’s a grim irony that the regime of Khartoum is continuing the genocide in Darfur and African leaders are decrying for the postponement of the ICC arrest warrant to give the regime a chance to complete its crimes, what a shame. However, what so-called Sudan Labor Union are merely NCP radical figures crying for the protection of the fugitive president Al-Bashir, for the regime since it seized power in 1989 dissolved all the Unions to let its members cry the cross.

    Reply
  • Nhial Reath Thoan
    Nhial Reath Thoan

    Sudan’s labor union slams ICC conference to be held in Qatar
    Sudanese Labour Union is not a Democratic Party ,we can easily see their position they take on hosting of a conference on the International Criminal Court by Qatar.

    It imply Religious as well as political discrimination and therefore (SLU),could be easily disqualify or fall short of what we could term as An International Democratic Rule.

    An African Union is like a toothless Lion,and nothing rather than a Union of the Criminal Heads of States. Their policy is to find a way to defend one another ,because they know that the same charge their colleague got is the same thing that most of them are doing secretely and may be brought to justice at any time.

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