Word: bashir
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That's rubbish, says Moreno-Ocampo. "Al-Bashir killed thousands of people saying 'You're black, you're African' ... The shame would be if this court ignored the victims of Darfur." (See pictures of Darfuri refugees...
There's another reason to go after al-Bashir: to put pressure on him. Over the past few months, Sudan has begun to play ball with the West, even as it has shouted that it isn't doing so. The government has entered new peace talks on Darfur and in June announced that it would allow nongovernmental organizations back into the region following a three-month ban. At the same time, Washington has relaxed a few of its positions on Sudan. Special envoy Scott Gration recently told Congress that there was no evidence to support the U.S. designation that Sudan...
Sitting in a gilded chair upholstered in white leather, al-Bashir didn't appear worried. The former paratrooper came to power as part of a 1989 military coup that introduced a strict Islamic legal code to Sudan. Since then, he has survived U.S. bombings (ordered by President Bill Clinton on suspicion that Khartoum had ongoing ties to Osama bin Laden), accusations that Sudan practices slavery, a long-running civil war and the bloody conflict in Darfur. It helps that the country's fast-growing oil industry, closer ties to China and a peace deal to end the civil war have...
...conceded, but the commanders responsible have been tried and punished. "The U.S. Air Force in Afghanistan mistakenly bombed a wedding and killed 147 civilians. But you cannot say that the U.S. President should be tried for this because he is the Commander in Chief of U.S. forces," al-Bashir told TIME. "Not even the [U.S.] head of Chiefs of Staff would be put to trial." The ICC, he said, "is a tool to terrorize countries that the West thinks are disobedient...
Assuming he stays out of the ICC's reach, al-Bashir faces a public trial of a different sort next year: a presidential election. Insiders say he wants to step down but that those around him want him to stay for another term. "Political work in Sudan, as I see it, is not a comfortable task," he said. "It is tiring, exhausting and with great responsibilities. I used to tell some Presidents whose periods had ended that the best thing is to be a 'former President' - someone who is respected, appreciated and without any responsibilities." Andrew Natsios...