Omar al-Bashir: Crooked

This article really depicts the corruption and issues that are occurring in Sudan, even within there own government. There leader Omar al-Bashir was accused of calling for the deaths of many people in Darfur, people of different religious faiths. he has been charged with crimes against humanity and rightfully so. This is the man that is trying to end civil war and unrest that has held the nation captive for almost its entire existence. He was the glimmer of hope for the innocent people living in this war torn country, and now the people realize that he is no more the hero than the enemy. Sudan's UN ambassador Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman claims that the leader did not commit any of these crimes, as there are various tribes living in and around Darfur, so if it had been genocide, why had these tribes not been eliminated? In my opinion, that country is so messed up and so broken i don't ever see it becoming fixed, the corruption is everywhere. Even the ones who are supposed to bring Sudan out of the dark ages and into a new era where the people there can coexist in peace are evil. I am truly sorry for the innocent people trying to earn a living under these circumstances.  

International Court prosecutor says genocide continues in Darfur, masterminded by al-Bashir

By Edith M. Lederer, The Associated Press – 2 days ago

The chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court said Wednesday that genocide and crimes against humanity continued in Darfur, masterminded by President Omar al-Bashir.

Luis Moreno Ocampo told the U.N. Security Council that al-Bashir was behind air attacks on civilians and the killing of members of three ethnic groups — the Fur, Massalit and Zaghawa.

The Security Council referred the Darfur conflict to the court in 2005, and judges have issued warrants against al-Bashir for crimes against humanity and "a genocidal policy" against the ethnic minorities. But the Sudanese leader remains in power, defiantly rejecting the charges and the court.

Moreno Ocampo said it is "the challenging responsibility" of the Security Council to use information exposed by the court to stop the crimes in Darfur, where as many as 300,000 people have died and some 2.7 million people have been displaced inside Darfur and in neighbouring Chad.

"Crimes against humanity and genocide continue unabated in Darfur," Moreno Ocampo told the council.

Sudan's U.N. Ambassador Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman stressed that Sudan was not a party to the Rome Statute that created the court and said Moreno Ocampo's statement and written report to the council were "overloaded with ... unfounded accusations" of rape, killing, war crimes and genocide.

"There are tens of thousands of those tribes mentioned in the report living in the capital of Sudan, at the hand reach of the president," he told reporters. "Had it been genocide, nobody would be spared from those individuals."

The prosecutor said most of the Fur, Zaghawa and Massalit people are now living in camps for the displaced where they are "still subjected today to rapes, terror and conditions of life aimed at the destruction of their communities, constituting genocide."

Moreno Ocampo said the crimes "are the consequence of a strategic decision taken by the highest authorities of the government of the Sudan."

The prosecutor said the Sudanese president and his supporters used a variety of tactics — denying the crimes, attributing them to other factors such as intertribal clashes, diverting attention by publicizing cease-fire agreements that are violated immediately, and proposing special courts to conduct investigations "that will never start."

"President al-Bashir is now asking for rewards for not committing new genocides outside Darfur," Moreno Ocampo said.

Ali Osman, the Sudanese ambassador, countered that the government is working hard to end the conflict, which is now in its eighth year, and is expecting negotiations with several rebel groups to wrap up later this week with an agreement to establish "private special courts."

He said experts from the African Union and the U.N. could eventually be asked to monitor the special courts.

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