KENYA: Sudanese diplomat says AU supports Bashir and expelled aid agencies were working "contrary" to their mission

Record ID: 361353

  • Title: KENYA: Sudanese diplomat says AU supports Bashir and expelled aid agencies were working "contrary" to their mission
  • Date: 6th March 2009
  • Summary: NAIROBI, KENYA (MARCH 05, 2009) (REUTERS) SUDAN AMBASSADOR TO KENYA MAJOK GUANDONG SITTING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALISTS AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) SUDAN AMBASSADOR TO KENYA MAJOK GUANDONG, SAYING: "We are working within the AU and the whole mechanism of the AU is in total opposition to this decision and therefore until some single country comes out to say
  • Embargoed: 21st March 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVABC4VL0KCTKLMTNTUV7LHGD29V
  • Story Text: Sudan's ambassador to Kenya said on Thursday (March 5) that the African Union was behind president Omar Hassan al-Bashir despite an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant issued for him on Wednesday.

    "We are working within the AU and the whole mechanism of the AU is in total opposition to this decision and therefore until some single country comes out to say that we are not members and that we do not support the Sudan... so far what we know is Sudan is getting the support of the whole AU," said Sudan's Ambassador to Kenya, Majok Guandong.
    The AU on Thursday said it would send a delegation to urge the U.N.
    security council to delay the ICC warrant.
    The arrest warrant issued for Bashir for atrocities in Sudan's western Darfur region is the first against a sitting head of state by the Hague-based court.
    The ICC, set up in 2002, indicted Bashir on seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, which included murder, rape and torture. The three-judge panel said it had insufficient grounds for charges of genocide.
    Hours after the warrant was issued, Sudan revoked the licences of several foreign aid agencies and on Thursday Bashir announced at a rally that 10 had been expelled.

    "We allow these organisations, because they say they were going to help the poor as you said. But on the ground if some of these organisations are found to be doing the contrary of their own mission, what do you do?"
    said Guandong.
    Responding to a question on whether aid agencies in Darfur were in fact working contrary to their mandate, Guandong said, "yes, of course."
    U.N. and other agencies are running the world's largest humanitarian operation in Darfur, a mainly desert region in western Sudan. International experts say at least 200,000 people have been killed there, while Khartoum says 10,000 have died.
    A further 2.7 million people are estimated to have been uprooted by the conflict, which began when mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against the government in 2003.
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