Word: sudan
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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TIME sat down with Sudan's President Hassan Omar al-Bashir in Khartoum two weeks ago. In March, the International Criminal Court (ICC) indicted Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the conflict in Darfur, where at least 200,000 people have died since...
TIME: It's been 20 years since your government assumed power in Sudan. And there were a number of problems from the get-go: poor relations with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United States. At that time the southern rebels were much more powerful than the Sudanese Army. There then came the time of Osama bin Laden, more difficulties with the United States, a split in your government and now Darfur. How is it that your government has been able to stay in control for 20 years...
...them the facts. And we found the people supporting the government. This is what allowed us to stand for 20 years in front of all the problems that you mentioned. In fact, not only did we withstand, but we also achieved great successes [such as] peace in southern Sudan, a number of peace issues and agreements, such as the Darfur Peace Agreement in Abuja, peace in eastern Sudan, peace with the political opposition groups that were outside of Sudan. We have an active diplomacy that has enabled us to remove all the external obstacles in our foreign relations, especially...
Second, we have a federal system; security in Darfur is the responsibility of the governments of Darfur. The governments of Darfur are predominately made-up of members who belong to the same tribes that Sudan is accused of committing genocide and ethnic cleansing against. So it cannot be that [Darfuri] officials in the government who are representatives in local and state parliaments, and [Darfuris] who are widely represented in the security apparatuses [can be responsible for these crimes], at a time when there was no United Nations or African Union [presence], but only the government, which received these displaced persons...
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...