Sudan to hand Bashir to ICC for Darfur crimes: top official

Yahoo – AFP, Jay Deshmukh and Abdelmoneim Abu Idris Ali, February 11, 2020

The International Criminal Court has charged Bashir with genocide, crimes against
humanity and war crimes in Sudan's western region of Darfur (AFP Photo/ASHRAF SHAZLY)

Khartoum (AFP) - Sudan has agreed to hand ousted autocrat Omar al-Bashir and others to the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Darfur, a member of Khartoum's ruling body said Tuesday.

The Hague-based ICC has charged Bashir and three of his former aides with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Sudan's western region during a brutal conflict from 2003.

"Those who have been indicted by the ICC, they have to go there," Mohamed Hassan Al-Taishay, a member of the ruling sovereign council said, without mentioning their names.

His remarks, quoted in a statement issued by the sovereign council in Khartoum, came as a government delegation met rebel groups in the South Sudanese capital of Juba.

Taishay said the talks focused on justice and reconciliation in Darfur, where the United Nations says about 300,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since the conflict erupted.

Taishay said they had agreed several mechanisms for achieving peace in the region.

"First, all those who have been indicted by the ICC should appear before the ICC," he said.

"Second, a special court be set up to investigate crimes committed in Darfur."

The conflict in Darfur, the size of France, erupted when ethnic minority African rebels took up arms against Bashir's then Arab-dominated government, accusing it of marginalising the region economically and politically.

The ICC has charged Bashir with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the conflict.

Bashir was ousted by the army last April following months of mass protests 

against his rule (AFP Photo/ASHRAF SHAZLY)

It has also indicted three of his former aides, Ahmed Haroon, Abdulrahim Mohamed Hussain and Ali Kushied.

"We cannot achieve justice unless we treat the suffering of the victims because this is a truth that we can't escape from," Taishay said.

"In Darfur, crimes against humanity and war crimes have been committed."

Bashir has denied the charges.

Bashir was ousted by the army in a palace coup last April after months of protests against his iron-fisted rule of three decades.

He was detained following his ouster and has since been jailed on corruption charges.

Anti-Bashir protesters, residents of Darfur and rebel groups from the region have consistently demanded that the ousted ruler be handed over to the ICC.

For years before his ouster and despite the ICC indictments, Bashir had regularly visited regional countries as well as Russia and China.

Days before the protests erupted in December 2018, he visited Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, becoming the first Arab leader to do so since the Syrian conflict began in 2011.

In 2018, Bashir helped broker a tentative peace deal in South Sudan after five years of intense conflict in the world's newest country, which won independence from Khartoum in 2011.

Malawi president appeals to keep job after court cancels his election

Yahoo – AFP, Jack McBRAMS, February 7, 2020

Malawi President Peter Mutharika, whose re-election last year has been annulled
by the country's constitutional court (AFP Photo/AMOS GUMULIRA)

Blantyre (Malawi) (AFP) - Malawian President Peter Mutharika on Friday filed an appeal against a landmark court decision that overturned his 2019 election victory, accusing it of bias against him, documents showed.

Malawi made history on Monday when the top court ruled in favour of an opposition bid to cancel last May's presidential election results over allegations of rigging.

In his appeal papers, Mutharika said the judges had "erred in law" in concluding that his re-election was "undue" and he asked the Supreme Court to reverse the judgment which also ordered new elections.

After six months of marathon hearings broadcast on public radio, the judges had declared Mutharika was "not duly elected" over what it called widespread irregularities, especially "massive" use of correction fluid on results sheets.

It was only the second time that a presidential election has been cancelled by a court in sub-saharan Africa, after Kenya in 2017.

But Mutharika, 79, said the judges' findings were "grossly biased" against him and a "miscarriage of justice".

A protest last year against the contested election results, which have been 

annulled (AFP Photo/Amos Gumulira)

Lazarus Chakwera, the leader of the main opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP), who came a close second to Mutharika, complained that he was robbed of victory.

Mutharika was declared the winner of the May 21 election with 38.5 percent of the vote, with Chakwera losing by just 159,000 votes.

It is the first time a presidential election has been challenged on legal grounds in Malawi since independence from Britain in 1964.

The normally stable country was hit by protests throughout last year over the election result, and on Friday the activists threatened the electoral commission with "the mother of all demonstrations" if they don't step down in the next week.

In separate court papers on Friday, the Malawi Electoral Commission chairwoman Jane Ansah sought an order "suspending the enforcement" of the Constitutional Court ruling, pending the hearing and determination of an appeal.

Opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera celebrates the court's decision to annul 

an election in which he lost to the president by 159,000 votes (AFP Photo/

AMOS GUMULIRA)

'Biased'

The court ordered a fresh election within 150 days -- as well as an investigation into the conduct of the electoral commission.

But Ansah accused the Constitutional Court of acting in "excess of its jurisdiction".

She said organising an election would require more time -- at least 261 days -- suggesting October 28 for the new polling date.

In its historic ruling, the court also ordered a number of legislative changes including that a candidate should be chosen by more than 50 percent of the ballots cast.

Under the current first-past-the-post electoral system for choosing a president.

Mutharika rubbished that court's order to parliament to change the laws saying that matter was never raised by the opposition in their petition, and that the order went against the "doctrine of separation of powers".

Ansah said she believes that "by ordering the legislature to convene and pass (new) legislation, the court acted in excess of its jurisdiction and had infringed on the independence and immunity of parliament."

The southern African nation made history on Monday when its Constitutional 

Court ruled in favour of an opposition bid to cancel May's presidential vote

 fresh polls. (AFP Photo/Jean Michel CORNU)

'Mother of all demonstrations'

The court also castigated the electoral commission, ordering an investigation into the "competence and conduct" of its seven members and staff.

Ansah said the court acted in "excess of its powers" by ordering such a probe and that "having condemned them already, any such enquiry would be sham".

Meanwhile the activists who led the long-running protests following the contested vote last year have given Ansah and her team of commissioners an ultimatum -- resign by Friday of next week or face a fresh round of demonstrations.

"They (commissioners) are going to see the biggest or the mother of all demonstrations in Malawi," Gift Trapence, vice chairman of the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) told a news conference in the capital Lilongwe on Friday.

He warned that protesters would "shut down" the electoral commission offices, adding "this time we are actually prepared to even do vigils in their (commissioners) homes.":

Sudan army agrees Burhan-Netanyahu meeting will boost security

Yahoo – AFP, Abdelmoneim ABU IDRIS ALI, February 5, 2020

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he and the Sudanese leader
"agreed to start cooperating leading to normalisation" after decades of boycott
(AFP Photo/SUMY SADURNI)

Khartoum (AFP) - Sudan's military announced Wednesday it backed a surprise meeting held between the country's leader and Israel's premier in Uganda this week, saying the opening would help boost national security.

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, chairman of Sudan's ruling sovereign council, met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Entebbe on Monday in a meeting that was not pre-announced.

Israel remains technically at war with Sudan, which supported hardline Islamists -- including, for a period, Al-Qaeda -- during the rule of autocrat Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted during mass protests last year.

On Tuesday, Burhan briefed the sovereign council and key ministers about his meeting, saying he met Netanyahu "to protect the national security of Sudan".

The military's support for Burhan on the matter came after top officers met at army headquarters in Khartoum.

"There was a meeting at the army headquarters today, and those present... were briefed about the visit ... and its impact on Sudan's national security," military spokesman Brigadier Amir Mohamed Al-Hassan told AFP.

"The army is in favour of this (Burhan-Netanyahu) meeting as it is in the interest of Sudan's national security."

On Wednesday, Burhan met Sudanese editors to explain why he met Israel's premier.

Burhan told the editors "the main thing that pushed him to take the decision to meet ... (Netanyahu) was to secure some key benefits for Sudan," said Hassan, without elaborating.

"He said that brave decisions were needed in order to change the current situation in Sudan, to ease the economic pressures on Sudanese people, and also to change the internal and foreign policies of Sudan."

'Positive direction'

Soon after Monday's meeting in Entebbe, Netanyahu's office said the Israeli premier believed that post-Bashir Sudan was headed "in a positive direction".

It said he and Burhan had "agreed to start cooperation leading to normalisation of the relationship between the two countries".

Sudan has long been part of a decades-old official Arab boycott of Israel over its treatment of the Palestinians and occupation of Arab lands.

In the wake of the Six-Day War of 1967 in which Israel occupied the Palestinian territories and seized the Golan Heights from Syria, Arab leaders held a historic meeting in Khartoum to announce what became known as the 'three nos' -- no peace, no recognition, no negotiations with Israel.

The Palestine Liberation Organization called Burhan and Netanyahu's meeting "a stab in the back of the Palestinian people".

In a statement carried on official news agency WAFA, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat accused Netanyahu and his US allies of "trying to liquidate the Palestinian cause".

Bashir was ousted by the army last April after months of nationwide protests against his iron fisted three-decade rule.

Sudan is now ruled by a joint military-civilian sovereign council headed by Burhan, which is tasked with overseeing the country's transition to full civilian rule.

Former Kenyan president Daniel arap Moi dead at 95

Yahoo – AFP, Nicolas DELAUNAY, February 4, 2020

Former Kenyan president Daniel Arap Moi, seen here in 1998, has died
(AFP Photo/ALEXANDER JOE)

Nairobi (AFP) - Former Kenyan president Daniel arap Moi, who ruled the country with an iron fist between 1978 and 2002, has died aged 95, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced Tuesday.

Moi's 24-year rule saw his country become a one-party state where critical voices were crushed, corruption became endemic and tribal divisions were stoked and turned bloody.

"It is with profound sadness that I announce the death of a great man of an African state," Kenyatta said in a statement.

He ordered a period of national mourning until a state funeral is held, on a date not yet announced.

The former president died "in the early morning of February 4 at Nairobi hospital in the presence of his family," Kenyatta said.

'Chequered career'

Moi fought off rivals in a bitter contest to take the top job in 1978, succeeding Kenya's first president, Jomo Kenyatta, when he died.

The speaker of Kenya's national assembly, Justin Muturi said that Moi was an "astute politician", who "employed pragmatic nationalism to keep the country together for the 24 years that he led our nation."

"He will be remembered for his great efforts towards consolidating peace and tranquility within the Horn of Africa and largely the East African Region, at a very difficult time for the region and the African continent," Muturi added.

His son Gideon Moi, a senator, confirmed Moi died at 5:20 am (02:20 GMT). "He passed away peacefully," he said. "I was by his side and, as a family, we have accepted (his death)."

One of the defining scandals of Moi's presidency was the loss of $1 billion from the central bank through false gold and diamond exports.

A report by Britain-based risk consultant group Kroll in 2007 claimed Moi's family and clique laundered money on a global scale, buying properties and companies in London, New York and South Africa and even a 10,000-hectare (25,000-acre) ranch in Australia.

'Discipline'

Vice-President William Ruto, who comes from the same Kalenjin people as Moi, mourned his "legendary personal discipline" and said that his "life and work touched every one of us in lasting, impactful ways."

Those targeted by his regime included human rights and environmental activists, including the writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o and the future Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai.

Moi was however praised for keeping Kenya a relative haven of peace during a chaotic period in east Africa which saw the genocide in Rwanda and civil wars in Burundi and Somalia.

His later return -- under significant pressure -- to multiparty elections in 1992, and peaceful handover of power to opposition leader Mwai Kibaki in 2002 also won him some praise.

Former opponent Raila Odinga, who spent several years in jail under Moi, referred to the late leader's "chequered career", but also spoke of his decision to finally restore multiparty politics.

"Moi and I reconciled after the political differences of the 1980s and early 90s, and we were able to work together to bring more reforms to the country," Odinga said.

In recent years observers have criticised the "rehabilitation" of Moi as the elderly former president often received visits from President Kenyatta, his opposition rival Raila Odinga and any politician seeking his blessing ahead of elections.

Kenyatta revived "Moi Day" in honour of the former president in 2017, after it was scrapped in 2010.