بسم الله
الرحمن الرحيم
Question:
The Justice &
Equality Movement (JEM) is known to be loyal to France. How then could it meet
in Qatar with the Sudanese government and announce reaching an agreement of fair
intentions? Moreover, what is the stand of the concerned countries on this
agreement? Does this imply that the United States and Europe are on the verge
of coming to a mutual agreement about charging al-Basheer?
Answer:
Yes, negotiations
have taken place between the Sudanese government and the Justice & Equality
Movement during the last eight days and they have reached an understanding in
Doha on 17th February, 2009. They have referred to this agreement as the
Agreement of Fair Intentions and Trust-building.
This agreement
calls for the two parties to sit together and hold peace dialogue and work out
an agreement to solve the Darfur conflict within a period of three months. It
also calls for the two parties to meet again for another round within two
weeks.
As for the
international community's stance on this - The US ambassador to the United
Nations has said: "This (agreement) is expected to be a modest
beginning towards peace." This statement implies support for the
agreement. When the Ambassador was asked as to how this agreement is linked to
Basheer, the Ambassador replied: "I see no connection."
(al-Sharq al-Awsat 18th February, 2009). This implies that the American
Ambassador was trying to deny that this agreement was an attempt to secure the
position of Basheer, everyone understands this. It is likely that the
International Criminal Court (ICC) may issue its decision on Basheer this week.
The threat of the
ICC for several months is an attempt by the Europeans to come to a compromise
solution acceptable to the Americans, and in fact the Doha talks are a part of
this attempt. It appears that the Doha talks are the first phase towards
finding a compromise acceptable to the Europeans and Americans in Sudan.
The Doha talks
have been welcomed by the UN Secretary Genral Ban Ki Moon as well as the
current president of the UN Security Council, the Japanese Ambassador Yokio
Takasu who said: "It is a first step in the right direction to end the
conflict in Darfur." (al-Jazeerah, 18th February, 2009). These
receptive statements fit well with the American game plan.
France, which has
been very active in the matter, has so far not issued any statement on this
agreement, as if it is waiting for a decision by the ICC in the next few days.
However, the Sudanese Ambassador to the United Nations, Abdu Mahmoud Abdul
Haleem has criticised it saying:
"It
(France) is still holding one of the rebel leaders (Abdul Wahid) in a five-star
hotel who issues fiery statements which adversely affects the peace
process." The Ambassador
said that the French President Nicholas Sarkozy has informed Basheer during a
meeting in which the Ambassador was president, that Abdul Haleem will be
deported from France if he hinders the peace process. (al-Sharq al Awsat, 18th
February, 2009). This implies that France is looking forward to reach a
compromise solution with Basheer with the participation of the French backed
movements.
What is known as
the Justice & Equality Movement, which is loyal to France and supported by
it, will only agree the dialogue if France approves of it.
The comprising
parties and their host (Qatar) are all the agents of the British which
indicates that the British are interested in achieving certain benefits for
themselves from this conflict.
If the decision
of the ICC happens to be a negative one, like for instance if it calls for the
arrest of Basheer and prosecuting him, then it is expected that Basheer may
invoke article16 in the UN Security Council, which calls for freezing
implementation of the ICC Judgment for a period of one year which again may be
extended especially since countries like Russia and China have publicly
supported such a stance apart from the US which has also backed this either
directly or indirectly through its agents.
The US and is
agents, led by Egypt have already been active in this approach, Abu al-Ghaith
said in a meeting with Basheer: "We will actively pursue with the UNSC
members and seek to implement article 16 of the ICC Statute to postpone any
action against Sudan and President Basheer." He also pointed out that
President Mubarak's visits to France and Italy, as well as Abu Ghaith's meeting
with the US Secretary of State are aimed at finding a solution to the Darfur
crisis. (al-Jazeerah, 15th February, 2009).
Sarkozy is aware
of the importance of Egypt and Mubarak in the matter which became evident when
the Jews disregarded the French initiative on the issue of Gaza, while they
accepted the Egyptian initiative on the subject. Since Sarkozy understands this
well, he has called his initiative the French-Egyptian initiative, though
others like the Jews have refused to accept this as a ‘French-Egyptian'
imitative and called it as the Egyptian initiative. Hence Mubarak has been
generous with Sarkozy so that France gives up on its attempts to secure an ICC judgement.
or,
see this link:
No comments:
Post a Comment