More than 40 African non-governmental organisations have launched a bid to prevent Sudan from becoming the next chair of the African Union, claiming the move would jeopardise peacekeeping operations in the country’s troubled Darfur region.
The Guardian has obtained copies of an appeal sent to African heads of state on Sunday saying that Sudan’s chairmanship could dash hopes of resolving the crisis, in which an estimated 300 000 people have been killed and two million driven from their homes.
The African Union currently has a peacekeeping force of 6 000 struggling to restore peace and end widespread killings and atrocities in the region in western Sudan. A larger United Nations force of up to 20 000 is being urged by UN experts.
The AU is expected to vote on the chairmanship at a summit meeting to be held in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, next Monday. Traditionally the leadership is assumed by the country that heads the summit meeting, and Sudan’s government is lobbying hard to secure the position.
Ahmed Motala, executive director of South Africa’s Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation and one of the signatories to the letter, said it would be a ”travesty” if Sudan won the AU chairmanship. ”It is currently the continent’s worst abuser of human rights,” he said.
”The human rights and humanitarian situation in Sudan’s Darfur region continues to be one of the worst in the world,” the letter warns. ”Because of these crimes against humanity committed on her territory, Sudan should not be rewarded by granting the leadership of the African Union.”
Peter Kagwanja, director of the South African office of the International Crisis Group, said that the result would be a ”terrible setback” for the body. ”Sudan has nothing to export to the continent except chaos. It would be the ugliest thing to happen to pan-Africanism,” he said.
”This would be the most tragic development in the evolution of the AU because Sudan is Africa’s greatest pariah regime,” said Kagwanja. ”It has not solved its own internal problems and actually is exporting them to its neighbours. Therefore nobody can imagine that Sudan could spearhead a continental peace initiative like the AU.”
Several North African countries and Zimbabwe are campaigning for Sudan to take over the leadership of the AU, and South African civic leaders are alarmed by reports that President Thabo Mbeki also intends to support Khartoum’s bid.
South Africa’s endorsement would probably sway the votes of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community and could tip the balance in favour of Sudan, say analysts.
Especially at risk is the role of the AU’s Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
The commission recently issued a report condemning human rights abuses in Zimbabwe and passed resolutions on the situations in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan’s Darfur region. If Sudan wins the AU’s leadership, activists believe it is almost certain that no action would be taken on these reports. – Guardian Unlimited Â