What Mbeki brings to Darfur

  1. Posted on Monday 9 March 2009 - 10:39
    sheleta
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    Savo Heleta, AfricaNews contributor in Johannesburg, South Africa
    The African Union has appointed former South African president, Thabo Mbeki, to chair a committee to investigate human rights violations in Darfur and be a liaison between the government of Sudan and the International Criminal Court.
    Mbeki.jpg
    Interestingly, the AU decided to appoint the same man who while the president of South Africa had a very friendly relationship with Omar al-Bashir, the president of Sudan who is indicted by the ICC for the war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

    During Mbeki's presidency, when South Africa was a temporary member of the United Nations Security Council, the country's diplomats tried everything to suspend or delay the ICC’s case against the Sudanese president for the war crimes in Darfur. They didn't mind the 200,000 dead and millions displaced in the Darfur conflict since 2003, which many analysts and aid organizations label one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.

    Similarly, during its two years at the Security Council, South Africa has voted against imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe despite the unthinkable crisis and ruthless dictatorship of Robert Mugabe.

    During the negotiations to end the crisis in Zimbabwe, many saw Mbeki as too soft on Mugabe, thus prolonging the suffering of millions. While members of the opposition were being killed in Zimbabwe, Mbeki held Mugabe's hand on TV and claimed there was no crisis in Zimbabwe whatsoever.

    What to expect from Mbeki's involvement in Darfur? Probably a few years of his "quiet diplomacy" during which tens of thousands will die and millions suffer unthinkable hardships and brutality.

    Well, what else to expect from the African Union, an organization currently chaired by a dictator, Libya's leader Colonel Moamer Gaddafi, who himself is responsible for the current conflict and suffering in Darfur.

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