Sunday, March 8, 2009

Dancing in the Face of Death

Background

Since 2003, the Darfur region of Sudan suffered the loss of 300,000 lives in the war between the government backed Janjaweed and African rebel groups. Recently the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the arrest of the President of Sudan, Omar Al Bashir, for crimes against humanity. Unfortunately, the Sudanese government reacted by expelling numerous humanitarian aid groups in response to the warrant and has also called for a million man march in protest.

The following link is a video of Omar Al Bashir dancing at a rally in defiance of the ICC's warrant:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG_qD4A9o7U


Bashir's Reason for Defiance

Many countries along with the African Union have called upon the United Nations to suspend the warrant for a year in order to focus on peace within the region. The five members of the UN Security Council tried to agree on a statement asking Sudan to reverse the decision to expel aid groups. Their efforts were blocked by China’s disapproval. Historically China and Sudan have enjoyed friendly relations mainly because China imports oil from Sudan and exports weapons. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China's business interests compromise humanitarian interests giving Mr. Bashir all the more reason to dance. Businesses and Non-government aid groups must petition members of the ICC to bring Mr. Al Bashir to justice.



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