The Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) rebel alliance has called on President Omar Al Bashir to take the action by Kenyan President Ahuru Kenyatta as an example, and appear before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
Yasir Arman, SRF secretary of foreign relations and secretary-general of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, described Kenyatta’s decision to temporarily step down as president, and appear before the Court as “a private citizen” on Wednesday, as “brave”, and “a token of his moral and political integrity”.
Kenyatta (52) faces five counts of crimes against humanity, for allegedly orchestrating violence after the disputed presidential elections of 2007 that left more than 1,200 dead, and caused the displacement of about 600,000 Kenyans.
Speaking to Radio Dabanga, Arman said that Kenyatta weighs the interests of the Kenyan people above his personal interests, “even though he was elected democratically”.
“President Al Bashir took power by a military coup in 1989, and clung to power by widespread acts of violence since then. He divided the Sudanese on the bases of ethnicity and religion, destroyed the country’s entire social fabric, and impoverished the majority of the people to far below international poverty levels. Al Bashir is not only selfish and greedy, but also a coward”.
Arrest warrant
Last week, the prosecutor of the ICC, Fatima Bensouda, requested the Saudi Arabian authorities to arrest President Omar Al Bashir, who went to Mecca for his annual performance of the hajj.
The head of the Secretariat of Justice of the ruling National Congress Party, El Fadel Haj Suleiman, called the request as “an attempt to drive a wedge between Khartoum and Riyadh”, and “an insult to Saudi Arabia”. andnbsp;
The Sudanese president faces ten counts on the basis of his individual criminal responsibility under Article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute as an indirect (co) perpetrator, including five counts of crimes against humanity, two counts of war crimes, and three counts of genocide.
Fileandnbsp;photo:andnbsp;Kenya's president Uhuru Kenyatta at the ICC on Wednesday. (Peter Dejong/AP)