The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Sunday urged President Thabo Mbeki and other African leaders not to make Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir chairperson of the African Union.
”Selecting a notorious human rights violator like Bashir will set the AU and Africa’s cause back in the most significant and negative way,” DA leader Tony Leon wrote in a statement.
It would, in effect, make Bashir, who stands accused of genocide in Darfur, titular head of the AU peacekeeping troops in Sudan’s Darfur region.
”This would make it impossible for the United Nations … to assume any kind of meaningful role in restoring peace and stability …”
Blocking Sudan’s candidacy for the AU chair would also afford South Africa the chance to redeem itself after its recent decision to vote against a UN Security Council vote condemning human rights violations in Burma, said Leon.
Bashir is suspected of giving governmental support and money to Islamic militias, the Janjaweed, to fight rebels in Darfur who oppose the Sudanese government.
The militias have been accused of ethnic cleansing. An estimated 200 000 people have been killed and another two million displaced in a conflict that has spilt over into neighbouring Chad and the Central African Republic.
Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs said President Thabo Mbeki will lead a delegation to the AU’s Heads of State and Government Summit in Addis Ababa on Monday and Tuesday.
An executive council of foreign ministers would make recommendations to the summit on, amongst others, Somalia and Sudan, Burundi, the Côte d’Ivoire, the Middle East and Palestine as well as the status of Africa-Europe dialogue, spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said on Sunday.
Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma led a South African government delegation to the executive council’s meeting on Thursday and Friday. —