"الجنائية" تصدر أوامر اعتقال جديدة ضد البشير

OVBIAGELE: No more appeasement, time to arrest Sudanese president

Posted By Emil Ovbiagele On October 20, 2009 @ 6:00

Wanted: Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for crimes of unspeakable savagery and the carnage of a nation.

If this societal miscreant is found, he should be handed over to international authorities.

Reward: a better world.

Africa has had its craggy times. From being on the brutal receiving end of Western imperialism in the 19th century to its own home-grown tyrannical dictators — the sores of the land of ebony just never heal.

Omar al-Bashir has ripped open the wound again.

Al-Bashir was charged earlier in the year by the International Criminal Court with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The International Criminal Court has urged Ugandan authorities to arrest the indicted Sudanese president if he comes to Kampala (capital of Uganda) next week for the African Union meeting.

But their statement came a day after Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said Uganda won’t execute the international arrest warrant on al-Bashir at the summit. Fine, Africa, shy away.

Even superman Obama is shying away from the challenge.

According to the new policy rolled out on Monday, the president is seeking to take a more conciliatory stance with the Sudanese president by not issuing new sanctions and engaging the Sudanese government.

The former is a good call, but the same can’t be said for the latter.

Obama’s idea of engaging the Sudanese government is laughable and a wrongful judgment on the president’s part.

Fresh sanctions are not warranted in Sudan, as sanctions do not hurt the leaders but rather affect the people, a burden the people of Sudan just can’t afford to bear right now.

That would be a case of riding a helpless horse to death.

Sanctions just don’t do it for this guy, not even soft diplomacy can.

After news of his wanted status, al-Bashir lashed out at the West, expelled aid workers from Sudan and accused the West of wanting to “re-colonize Africa.”

Listening to his passionate rhetoric, one might develop a soft spot for his nationalism.

Well, only if you have been on a desert island for the past decade or so.

How dare a fugitive of the law be that bold? It is totally preposterous and annoying.

I hope Obama realizes how badly he needs to stop this man who has the monstrous audacity to play God.

We’re talking about a man

who caused 300,000 deaths since the fighting in Darfur erupted in 2003.

Not to mention the 2.5 million displaced Sudanese and the millions who continue to suffer because of the expelled foreign aid agencies.

Although leaders prone to war crimes and genocides are nothing new to Africans, as in the case of Liberia’s Charles Taylor (a self-imposed dictator in Liberia during the country’s civil war years who’s being tried at The Hague for crimes against humanity) and the Rwandan genocide, the West needs to stop these habitual acts.

The docile approach taken by the West makes the unfathomable arrogance of a barbaric leader even worse.

If the Obama administration wants to help, they should institute a more pragmatic approach aimed at apprehending Omar al-Bashir.

Anything short of that would not change the course of the ongoing genocide and suffering in Sudan that the world is witnessing.

Obama’s sugar and spice approach will not work with Sudan — plain and simple.

On this one, you have got it all wrong Mr. President. Think again!

Food For Thought: To correlate the reality of what is true with the hope of what should be, it takes a well-directed will.