Daily Darfur: To Arrest or Not to Arrest - The Uganda Version

An official at Uganda's foreign ministry issued wishy-washy comments regarding a possible visit by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir at the end of the month.

Speaking at a press conference with  ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo yesterday, Okello Oryem seemed to indicate that his government will consider defying the African Union and acting on the International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Bashir, should he decide to pay a visit.

Ocampo was in Kampala yesterday, to discuss the cases against Bashir and Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony, and urged the government to act on its obligations as a signatory to the Rome Statute. Oryem did not give a definite response, but said that Uganda is committed to its obligations:

"Let's wait for Bashir to arrive here and we see which action will be taken against him by the government of Uganda."

Sounds a bit like a dare. However, Oryem then turned around and told Uganda's Daily Monitor that Bashir will not be arrested:

"Gen. Bashir has been invited here by the Uganda government and he will not be arrested."

So which is it, Uganda? The (very small and often sidelined) optimistic side of me would like to hope that Oryem was backtracking in order to lure Bashir into a trap...but it's just after 5am here in DC, and I'm not known to be optimistic before my second cup of coffee.

(For those of you interested in the ICC, tune into the broadcast of "The Reckoning" on PBS tonight.)

Only a matter of time?

More voices of dissent against the AU line on the ICC are emerging from African civil society, and especially from Kenyan newspapers:

Nairobi's East African states that "Bashir is toast," and calls the AU a "a club that has some leaders who are responsible for more murders than Bashir is being blamed for" :

"African leaders and apologist intellectuals might whine all they want about how the ICC is another neo-colonial instrument that is mainly targeting African butchers, but it won't be enough to save Bashir."

Another piece in the East African remarks on the leaders at the AU:

"They commit tyranny and robbery and murder all the time and then, when accosted either at home or in international councils -- try to depict one another as archangels."

The Business Daily, also based in Nairobi, calls the AU resolution on non-cooperation with the ICC a "short-sighted, disdainful of the Darfurian victims, and could unwittingly encourage other political leaders to undermine human rights, the rule of law, peace and security in Africa."

Quickies

Divestment activists are hoping for a better outcome with the vote by Fidelity customers than they got from Vanguard: Fidelity shareholders have until tomorrow to vote for "more socially responsible" investments.

The UN, AU, and Government of Sudan met in Khartoum yesterday to discuss the deployment of UNAMID.

The Justice and Equality Movement is once again threatening to boycott peace talks. (It's starting to have the feel of crying wolf.)

[Photo from AP: Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir attends the opening session of the 13th African Union summit of heads of state and government in Sirte, Libya Wednesday, July 1, 2009.]