Darfur Enmeshed Within Sudan’s Broadening National Crisis (Part 3 of 3)

Eric Reeves
March 3, 2009

On the eve of the ICC announcement of a warrant for the arrest of Omar al-Bashir, charging him with atrocity crimes, security in Darfur reaches a nadir; humanitarians continue to evacuate and their operations to contract amidst growing evidence that UNAMID cannot protect them, or civilians.

KHARTOUM’S THREATS

This analysis appears immediately prior to a much anticipated announcement (scheduled for March 4, 2009) by the Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court. The Court will almost certainly issue an arrest warrant for National Islamic Front/National Congress Party President Omar al-Bashir---charging him with atrocity crimes in Darfur, including crimes against humanity. The consequences of this announcement are uncertain, though alarm on the part of al-Bashir and his regime has become increasingly conspicuous over the past several months. This alarm has been reflected in a wide range of threats against the international community, including supporters of the ICC, humanitarian workers in Darfur, the UN/African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur, as well as the linchpin north/south Comprehensive Peace Agreement (2005).

The most recent and revealing threat came from the head of the National Security and Intelligence Service, the powerful Saleh Abdalla Gosh. Gosh ominously threatened supporters of ICC actions with the resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism in Sudan; he declared that the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) would again become, in effect, the National Islamic Front (NIF)---the name for the current regime when it came to power by military coup in 1989, deposing an elected government, and deliberately aborting Sudan’s most promising chance for peace since Independence in 1956:Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>