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President Omer Bashir Should Surrender Himself to ICC
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Dec 17, 2008 - 6:36:53 PM

President Omer Bashir Should Surrender Himself to ICC

For Immediate Public Release

Dinka International Congress (DIC)

December, 13, 2008

The Dinka International Congress (DIC) urges the President of the Republic of Sudan, Field Marshall Omer Hassen El Bashir, to surrender himself to International Criminal Court (ICC) to face justice that awaits him. The evidence obtained from the prosecutor of the ICC reveals, beyond reasonable doubt, that Field Marshall Bashir�s claim of innocence is questionable. Therefore, the only way for President Bashir to extricate himself from charges brought against him is to face justice at The Hague.

The ICC�s prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo , revealed that three judges that are looking into the charges brought against Bashir will issue their verdict on January 3^rd, 2009. The outcome of the Court�s decision is already known. Field Marshal Basir will be indicted for committing crimes against humanity such as genocide, rape and ethnic cleansing. By January next year after the verdict, the whole World will be urging President Bashir to surrender himself. Our community calls upon President Bashir to do the right thing when he is indicted by the ICC, i.e., surrender to justice. Although Bashir is innocent until proven guilty, the President will not be seen as innocent if he refuses to surrender to justice that would determine his innocence.

We call upon the Sudanese public to persuade President Bashir to surrender himself when the indictment is issued in January. It is in the national interest of Sudan that the President faces justice to clear himself. The charges brought against Sudan for crimes committed in Darfur tainted the credibility of the whole country. It is the position of every Sudanese that the path to peace in Darfur goes through The Hague. When Bashir surrenders to the ICC, this will lead to better understanding between the Government of National Unity (GONU) and the Darfur freedom fighters. A genuine and everlasting peace will be forged in Darfur leading to rebuilding of the Sudanese state.

The issue of accountability for the atrocities committed in Darfur is something that the President of Sudan should not take lightly. The crimes committed in Darfur are an affront to the morals of international community. The best place where crimes committed in Darfur would be addressed is the ICC. Our community rejects the argument of the National Congress Party (NCP) that the Sudanese government is capable of prosecuting those accused of committing crimes. Which Sudanese Court can bring the President of the country to justice if it is not the ICC? Who can bring 2^nd Vice-President Ali Osman to justice in Khartoum? The government of Sudan that is controlled by the very people accused of committing genocide is not competent to prosecute the commander-in-chief of the Sudan armed forces, Field Marshal Omer Bashir. It is the ICC that is the right place to mete out justice regarding crimes committed in Darfur.

The SPLM leadership must support the position of Dinka International Congress to convince President Bashir to surrender to the ICC in January. We reject the arguments of some SPLM�s members who said that the arrest of Bashir will jeopardize the implementation of Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). We believe that CPA will be emboldened if Bashir faces justice of the ICC because that will promote rule of law in Sudan. The CPA did not collapse when Dr. John Garang died in a plane crash. There are clean members of the NCP that would continue implementing the peace with the SPLM.

We call upon the leader of Popular National Congress, Dr. Hassen El Turabi, to support the position of Dinka community that peace in Darfur would follow when President Bashir surrenders to the ICC peacefully without being hunt down like Saddam Hussien. The same call goes to Right Honourable, Sadiq El Mahdi, leader of the UMMA, to join the call for Bashir to surrender peacefully without any altercation.

For contact

The Secretariat

Dinka International Congress (DIC)

Head office: Amsterdam

Branches: USA, Canada, UK, New Zealand and Australia

Email: [email protected]