INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE MEANS LOCAL JUSTICE

I watched THE RECKONING tonight. It is well worth watching.

It is on PBS' POV (Point of View) as a documentary.

THE RECKONING about the ICC (International Criminal Court online
http://www.pbs.org/video/video/1182396986/program/1154485580

John R. Bolton, George W Bush's United Nations Ambassador hopefully will glaringly prove his flawed thinking on this show. A reminder: The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag in the USA ends with the following words: "...and liberty and justice for all."

The United States needs to support the ICC. Below the information for the RALLY AT WHITE HOUSE IN SUPPORT OF JUSTICE FOR BASHIR is more information on THE RECKONING.


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JULY 22, 2009

DARFURIS TO RALLY AT WHITE HOUSE IN
SUPPORT OF JUSTICE FOR BASHIR

Protesters to call on Obama administration to act immediately to help bring
justice AND peace to Darfur

WASHINGTON – Darfuris, other Sudanese and Americans who share a common concern about the Obama Administration’s lack of response to the ongoing crimes against humanity in Sudan and Darfur will gather on Wednesday in front of the White House. Participants will deliver a letter to President Obama. From there, participants will walk to the State Department with a letter to the Secretary of State.

The rally is sponsored by the Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy in cooperation with American Darfur activist organizations from across the country. Americans from across the country will also be participating in a National Call-in Day in support of the Darfuri rally. These events are timed to coincide with Special Envoy Gration’s trip to the Sudan and the announcement of the much-anticipated decision on the boundaries of the contested Abyei region. It also falls on the same day as President Obama’s prime time press conference to encourage discussion of Darfur and the ICC case against Bashir at the news conference.

Spokespeople will be available for interviews before, during and after the protest.

WHO: Mohamed Yahya, Executive Director of Damanga Coalition for Freedom and
Democracy, of Washington, DC, originally from West Darfur

WHEN: 1:00PM ET
Wednesday, July 22, 2009

WHERE: Start at Lafayette Square for White House Rally then march to the State Department

WHY: To issue a plea to President Obama and Secretary Clinton
for an unequivocal statement from the United States government in support of the
following:

1. International cooperation with the ICC and its indictments of Omar al-Bashir
2. The immediate deployment of the 26,000 UNAMID Peace Forces to Darfur with a
full Chapter VII mandate, and all necessary support and supplies;
3. Pressure on the Government of Sudan to allow all expelled humanitarian
organizations back into Darfur without any delays or conditions;
4. Strict trade sanctions against Chinese oil companies, and all other companies
investing in Sudanese oil or exporting weapons to Sudan;
5. The end of attacks on Refugee Camps in Chad and Darfur and the return of all
confiscated land to its rightful owners.

REQUESTING HELP
The rally organized by the Damanga Coalition in support of justice and peace in Darfur is planned for this Wednesday - JULY 22, 2009. There are many Darfuris on the East Coast who would like to travel to DC for the day but lack funding for the ground transportation expenses. Susan Morgan of the Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur is working with Damanga and other Darfuri groups to raise enough money to fund vanpools from key locations like NYC, Philadelphia and Virginia. She estimates that with $1000 we would be able to help 30 – 40 Darfuris attend the rally.

If you or your organization is able to contribute (any small amount will help) please respond to her at Susan@paxommunications.org and let her know your pledge amount. Susan will then send you her address to for the check. Checks should be make payable to the Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur so that they will be tax deductible. Thanks for any help you may be able to provide.

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Justice doesn't just happen.

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THE RECKONING - about the ICC

Film Description

Former child soldiers of the Thomas Lubanga UPC militia, Ituri, eastern Congo

The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court is an epic, nail-biting account of the new International Criminal Court's struggle to prosecute perpetrators — however powerful or concealed they may be — of crimes against humanity as the Court fights to establish its own credibility on the world stage. The film shows the lead-up to the court's most recent and sensational action, the indictment of Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir on March 4, 2009, for crimes against humanity and war crimes. Established by treaty in 2002 in response to the mass atrocities that stained the late 20th century, the International Criminal Court (known as the ICC) is the first permanent international criminal court created to seek justice for victims of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. But the Court, given a historic mandate by its founding 100-plus nations, was not given a police force or other enforcement arm. Moreover, the ICC faces major obstacles in pursuing its mission from nations that did not join the treaty.

Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo in the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands

The Reckoning's history of the ICC's founding will be as valuable to those familiar with the story as to those new to it. But the film's central drama concerns events that occurred after 2002. For three years, the filmmakers followed chief ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo and his team of investigators and prosecutors across four continents as they issued arrest warrants for Lord's Resistance Army leaders in Uganda, put an infamous Congolese warlord on trial, shook up the Colombian justice system and charged Sudan's al-Bashir with crimes against humanity. At every turn, Moreno-Ocampo and crew faced danger, hostility and resistance. The larger drama in The Reckoning is the fate of the ICC itself. Will this tiny court in The Hague succeed against the odds in forging a new paradigm for human rights and justice in the world?

The Reckoning has a mythological opening. A man holding a human skull in a lonely field offers perhaps the most eloquent argument for the ICC. "Without justice," he says, "people have no respect for each other. If this is left unpunished, it will be repeated." He is speaking of the more than 5 million people killed in the wars that have torn eastern Congo apart since 1998. But he might as well have been speaking for the victims of mass murder in Guatemala (200,000), Cambodia (1.7 million), East Timor (200,000), Sierra Leone (50,000), Bosnia (200,000) and Rwanda (800,000), to name only the most notorious cases. It was the horror of these events — and the prospect of more occurring — that brought the world's nations together at the 1998 Rome Conference and set in motion the negotiations that would lead to the ICC's establishment in 2002.

The Reckoning shows that the idea for the Court goes back further, to the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi leaders following World War II, which the United States was the leader in establishing. This connection is uniquely expressed in the film by Ben Ferencz, who, as a 27-year-old lawyer, prosecuted 22 German officers at Nuremberg for murdering over a million people; all were convicted and 13 were sentenced to death. Ferencz never forgot the horror of the Nazi death camps and became a writer on world peace and a tireless campaigner for a permanent tribunal to prosecute crimes against humanity. He recalls the significance of Nuremberg: that the Allies sought justice through rule of law, establishing that no one was above the law and that not only was the killing of civilians a war crime, but the murder of people on the basis of their race, creed or class — genocide — was a crime of the greatest magnitude. Ferencz was there at The Hague on June 16, 2003, when Moreno-Ocampo was sworn in as the first Prosecutor of the new International Criminal Court.

Moreno-Ocampo himself brings unique experience and moral authority to the ICC — and an acute awareness of its historical roots. In 1985, a younger Moreno-Ocampo successfully prosecuted members of the Argentine military junta that, from 1976 to 1983, conducted a "dirty war" of murder, "disappearances" and torture against its political opponents. "It was the first trial of generals since Nuremberg," Moreno-Ocampo notes. Later, as district attorney for the Federal Circuit of the City of Buenos Aires from 1987 to 1992, he prosecuted the military commanders responsible for the Falklands War, the leaders of two military rebellions and dozens of high-profile corruption cases.

Moreno-Ocampo's team includes such savvy lawyers and investigators as former U.S. federal prosecutor Christine Chung, the ICC's first senior trial attorney, who has been a visiting lecturer and senior fellow at the Schell Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School. She is now a partner at the law firm Quinn Emanuel. Well aware of the obstacles facing the ICC, she describes the Court as a "justice start-up."

Three great powers — China, Russia and the United States — are not members of the Court. The United States actively opposed the Court during the George W. Bush administration. In The Reckoning, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John R. Bolton explains his rationale for the American campaign against it. He doesn't ever want to contemplate U.S. leaders in an international dock. For Bolton, national sovereignty cannot be compromised. For its part, China opposes the ICC arrest warrant indicting Sudanese President al-Bashir, and Russia remains skeptical about it.

The ICC's job, as a court of "last resort," is to support and push national judiciaries to investigate and prosecute alleged crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. Only when a country's justice system proves completely incapable of dealing with such crimes, and only when asked, does the ICC step in directly — and then gingerly. Where international justice conflicts with national sovereignty, the ICC must employ both clarity of purpose and political diplomacy.

Thus, in Colombia, where officials "at the highest levels" have been implicated in the political violence ravaging the country, the Court throws its prestige and resources behind Colombian prosecutors who are fighting to investigate the allegations in the face of political opposition. In Congo, by contrast, the Congolese government has asked the ICC to intervene because chaos prevents any credible judicial process. So the ICC investigates and issues its own arrest warrant for Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, a notorious militia leader, for abducting children to serve as his child soldiers. To serve its warrant in Congo, the ICC must rely on local allies, in this case the government — making Dyilo the first war criminal brought to trial at the ICC's headquarters in The Hague.

The Sudan/Darfur case was referred to the ICC by the U.N. Security Council. Since many around the world see Darfur as a clear case of genocide by the Sudanese government against indigenous Darfurians, the government's open defiance of the ICC's warrant for al-Bashir forces the ICC to return to the U.N. Security Council itself to get the international community to bring pressure to arrest al-Bashir. At that point, the clarity provided by law and the U.N. is caught up in murky realpolitik.

In the case of Uganda, an even more difficult contradiction threatens to derail the ICC's work. The government of Uganda asked the ICC to investigate and bring the leaders of a rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), to justice. After 50 investigative missions documenting some 2,200 murders, the ICC prepares to bring warrants when the LRA leaders, clearly worried, try to turn the situation on its head. They come in from the bush, offering negotiations and a new era of peace and stability — but only if the ICC warrants are lifted. After so many years of war and death, even surviving victims of the LRA's worst atrocities find it all but impossible not to take the bait.

ICC prosecutors go on a campaign to convince Ugandans that, in the long run, there will be no peace or stability if the LRA leaders are allowed to get away with their crimes. Ultimately, whether speaking to the august ambassadors of state at the U.N. or to maimed villagers in Uganda, the ICC holds fast to the simple principle spoken by that Congolese man in the field: "Without justice, people have no respect for each other."

Nothing less than a real-life thriller, The Reckoning keeps you on the edge of your seat with two riveting dramas — the prosecution of three cases of unspeakable crimes against humanity and the ICC's fight for its own survival and effectiveness. Senior Trial Attorney Chung reveals the stakes that still hang in the balance when she wonders if the ICC will emerge as an effective institution for justice or simply a symbolic one, a "shadow" of what it was meant to be.

"I started out thinking that The Reckoning would be about the ICC's cases and trials, like any good crime thriller," says director Pamela Yates. "I quickly realized I had to expand the film's vision to include the far-reaching effects the ICC was having at the local level, with the tremendous amount of controversy as well as hope that its investigations were causing. The Court itself became the protagonist of The Reckoning, and all the cinematic elements were developed in realizing this idea."

The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court is a production of Skylight Pictures. Visit the filmmakers' site, IJCentral if you want to support the international justice movement and join in their action campaigns.

• Posted on June 8, 2009
• Updated on July 17, 2009

ICC Timeline
Put the ICC in historical perspective with this multimedia timeline.

Filmmaker Interview
Filmmakers Pamela Yates and Paco de Onís talk about the challenges of making a film about the ICC.

International Justice and Human Rights
Scholars, human rights organizations and political analysts discuss issues raised by the fil

Q&A with Christine Chung
Former ICC attorney Christine Chung answers questions about the court, the Obama administration’s policy towards the ICC and more

• Episode links

  • • POV website
  • • The Reckoning homepage
  • • Lesson Plan
  • • Links & Books
  • • Discussion Guide (PDF)

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Write to President Obama
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

You can also write to the President at:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

President Obama can be called:

202-456-1111
or
1-800-GENOCIDE

The White House comment line is available
9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. weekdays

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Find USA elected politicians contact information at this link:
www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

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More Information:

www.stopgenocidenow.org

www.enoughproject.org
www.savedarfur.org
www.eyesondarfur.org

SITTING PRESIDENT OF SUDAN ISSUED A WARRANT FOR ARREST

Court Issues Warrant for Arrest of Sudan President

Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/05/world/africa/05court.html?_r=1&hp

By MARLISE SIMONS

Published: March 4, 2009

PARIS — The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant Wednesday for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan for war crimes and crimes against humanity, ignoring diplomatic requests to delay the warrant to allow time for more peace negotiations in the conflict-riddled Darfur region of his country.

It is the first time the court, which opened in 2002, has sought the arrest of a sitting head of state, though other international war crimes courts have issued warrants for Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia and Charles Taylor of Liberia while they were sitting presidents.

The registrar for the court, Silvana Arbia, said that Mr. Bashir was accused of being personally responsible for “directing attacks against the civilian population” of Darfur and “murdering, raping, and forcibly displacing millions of civilians.”

The crimes took place, Ms. Arbia said, during a five-year campaign against rebel organizations in Darfur which opposed the government in Khartoum that began in 2003. The campaign, the court said was the result of a plan agreed at the highest level of the government in Khartoum that lasted until July 14, 2008, which is the date of the arrest warrant.

The warrant charges Mr. Bashir with five counts of crimes against humanity — murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture, and rape, and two counts of war crimes — intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population, and pillaging. The warrant does not accuse Mr. Bashir of genocide, but Ms. Arbia said the court consider that charge if additional information from the prosecutors becomes available.

The arrest warrant is likely to complicate the international debate over how to solve the crisis in Darfur. It came despite concerns voiced by United Nations diplomats, the African Union, the Arab League, and some humanitarian organizations that it could provoke renewed violence in the country and put at risk the peace process in southern Sudan.

The government in Khartoum has vowed to defy the arrest warrant, making it unlikely that Mr. Bashir will be brought to the court any time soon. But analysts said the warrant will weaken Mr. Bashir’s position internationally, making it possible that he could fall from power more rapidly than he would otherwise.

In announcing the indictment, the court’s chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, said more than 30 witnesses will testify that Mr. Bashir controlled a genocidal campaign aimed at wiping out three ethnic African tribes in Darfur, the Western region of the vast nation south of Egypt.

The question now is who will execute the warrant. Sudan is legally obliged to arrest him, but such a move is not expected any time soon. The Hague court has no police force or military of its own, and the 24,000 or so United Nations peacekeepers stationed in Sudan have no mandate to detain war crimes suspects.

If Mr. Bashir travels to any of the 108 nations that are members of the court, he risks arrest, because court members will be obliged to detain him. The 80 or so countries that are not court members, including China, Russia and the United States, have no such obligation. But lawyers say those nations can arrest Mr. Bashir because several treaties state that heads of state enjoy no immunity if they are charged with genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes.

Even if Mr. Bashir remains free, analysts who favored his arrest say the warrant is likely to have a worldwide effect.

“This means he will be a fugitive, a man on a wanted poster held to be most responsible for the atrocities of Darfur,” said Richard Dicker, a director of Human Rights Watch.

Other analysts and activists argued that the warrant could undermine his political position at home. Nick Grono, deputy president of the International Crisis Group, wrote recently that “although Mr. Bashir and his security apparatus are still entrenched in power, the indictment is likely to weaken their hold. It may even cause the army and intelligence agencies, the ultimate wielders of power, to contemplate a future without Bashir.”

Many observers fear, however, that weakening Mr. Bashir could result in more violence in the region, at least in the near term.

“I am sure there will be some crowd movements, there will be some violence here and there,” said Alain Le Roy, the United Nations undersecretary general for peacekeeping operations.

Some figures in the government have threatened bloodshed in response to an indictment. Salah Gosh, the head of Sudanese intelligence, was quoted in Sudanese press reports as calling for the “amputation of the hands and the slitting of the throats of any person who dares badmouth al-Bashir or support the International Criminal Court’s allegations against him.”

Another worry, Mr. Le Roy said, was that any of the groups involved in the conflict, including the governments of Sudan and Chad as well as the rebels, might take advantage of any uproar surrounding the court’s decision to foment violence. And the delays in deploying United Nations peacekeeping troops to Darfur, with only about 64 percent of the force there, will likely worsen because of possible new tension in the region.

Mr. Le Roy also said, however, Sudan had reassured the United Nations officials that the government would respect its commitment to protect United Nations peacekeeping missions and other agencies. There were no immediate plans to scale back patrols or otherwise retreat from the prescribed mission he said.

All credit of this article:

Neil MacFarquhar and Sharon Otterman contributed reporting from New York.

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For more information:

http://www.enoughproject.org/

ICC DECISION ON OMAR AL-BASHIR IS OUT

PRESS CALL

9:00 A.M. EST March 4, 2009

ICC Decision on Omar al-Bashir of Sudan

Contact:
Eileen White Read, 202.741.6376
eread@enoughproject.org

WASHINGTON, D.C. – At 9:00am EST, Wednesday, March 4, 2009, please join the Enough Project for a global press conference to discuss the International Criminal Court’s decision in the case of Omar al-Bashir, President of Sudan. The ICC prosecutor has applied for an arrest warrant for Mr. Bashir on charges of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The Court has announced its intention to rule from The Hague, Netherlands, on March 4.

Please email Eileen White Read at eread@enoughproject.org if you plan to attend the call.

WHAT: Press call in the International Criminal Court case against Omar al-Bashir of Sudan

WHEN: Wednesday, March 4th at 9am EST/3pm in The Hague

WHERE: By telephone, 888-674-0222 from the U.S.; 201-604-0498 outside the U.S.

ID: Enough Project

WHO:
John Prendergast, co-founder of the Enough Project, an Africa policy expert, activist, and author who has participated in numerous peace processes in Africa, including his service at the National Security Council and the Department of State

John Norris, Executive Director of the Enough Project, a former official of the U.S. State Department, international policy and humanitarian organizations, and the United Nations, and the author of two books

David M. Crane, Professor at Syracuse University College of Law, former founding Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, an international war crimes tribunal that indicted the former president of Liberia, Charles Taylor

The following information is from:
http://www.enoughproject.org/

ICC Issues Arrest Warrant for Sudan’s President al-Bashir

Source: http://www.enoughproject.org/blogs/icc-issues-arrest-warrant-sudan%E2%80%99s-president-al-bashir

Posted by Eileen White Read on Mar 04, 2009

The International Criminal Court in The Hague has issued an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, a historic action that marks the first time the tribunal has acted against a sitting head of state. The charges stem from a July 2008 request by ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo and include crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The warrant specifically did not include the charges of genocide requested by the Chief Prosecutor last July.

The Court noted: "He is suspected of being criminally responsible as an indirect [co]perpetrator for intentionally directing attacks against an important part of the civilian population of Darfur, Sudan, murdering, exterminating, raping, torturing, and forcibly transferring large numbers of civilians and pillaging their property."

In announcing the arrest warrant, an ICC spokesman noted that the fact that Mr. Bashir is a sitting president "does not exclude his criminal responsibility nor does it grant him immunity against prosecution before the International Criminal Court."

The Enough Project issued the following statement in response:

"The International Criminal Court arrest warrant for President Omer al-Bashir provides an unprecedented opening, making Sudan's prospects for peace riper than they have been in memory,” said John Prendergast, co-founder of the Enough Project. “How the Obama administration handles this immediate foreign policy challenge will have a major impact on the outcome. It is crucial for the new president's team to clarify to Arab states, China and others that the U.S. policy objective is a just and durable peace for Sudan.”

John Norris, The Enough Project’s Executive Director, added, “This message should be heard loudly and clearly around the globe: If you kill, maim, and rape your own citizens, there will be a cost for your actions. I hope other tyrants and warlords around the globe are taking note. Slobodan Milosevic, Charles Taylor, and now, President Bashir were only willing to learn the hard way. There are now millions of activists around the United States that expect the Obama Administration to make both peace and justice a priority in Sudan.”

The issuance of an arrest warrant for Sudan’s sitting head of state for crimes against humanity offers the Obama administration a chance to catalyze multilateral efforts to bring about a solution to Sudan’s decades-long cycle of warfare. One of the crucial missing ingredients to conflict resolution efforts has been some form of accountability for the horrific crimes against humanity that have been perpetrated by the warring parties in Sudan, primarily the Khartoum regime.

President Obama should now take a number of key steps, including:

• Working with the U.N. Security Council to support targeted sanctions against those most responsible for violence in Sudan and imposing a comprehensive arms embargo against the Government of Sudan;
  
• Making UNAMID effective with a robust force on the ground in Darfur with a competent lead nation and a clear command-and-control structure;
  
• Working closely with interested parties with leverage in Sudan and the region, especially China, the United Kingdom, France, and key African countries, to coordinate efforts on peace efforts, the protection of civilians, and accountability;
  
• Countering continued violations by Sudan on the UN ban on offensive military flights in Darfur; and
  
• Appointing a senior Special Envoy to not only address the situation in Darfur, but Sudan’s multiple conflicts and their regional dimensions.

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Stay Tuned

Source: http://www.enoughproject.org/blogs/stay-tuned

Posted by Maggie Fick on Mar 04, 2009

The newswires are buzzing, rumors are flying, and capitals will soon be rushing out statements on the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant issuance this morning. Humanitarian organizations in Darfur and embassies in Khartoum have been bracing for the ICC’s decision for some time now. The sky is not going to fall today in Sudan, but as Enough’s John Prendergast and Omer Ismail note in a recent opinion-editorial, the sands will be shifting in Sudan as the international community adapts to the reality of having an indicted war criminal as president.

Here at the Enough Project (and right here on our blog), we will keep you informed and offer analysis of the latest developments, with an emphasis on what precisely the U.S. government should do to lead international efforts to end the crisis in Darfur and promote a peaceful future in Sudan. We hope you’ll stay tuned with us.

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WATCH the new Enough Slideshow: Building a Permanent Deterrent to Impunity: A Brief History of International Justice

INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

READ our ("our" means http://www.enoughproject.org/) special page highlighting the recent developments at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

ON THE EVE OF PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE BEING USED - WHICH WAY WILL WE TIP THE SCALES?

Justice and peace in Sudan

Source: www3.signonsandiego.com

By John Prendergast and Omer Ismail

2:00 a.m. March 3, 2009

For the first time in a quarter-century, Sudan has a chance for peace throughout the entire country. On the face of it, this assertion seems counterintuitive – even preposterous. Darfur is burning, and the historic 2005 agreement that brought peace between northern and southern Sudan is at risk of collapse. Sudan scholars throughout the world busy their days penning academic dirges, and diplomats despair. We've seen that many of California's anti-genocide activists are losing hope as well.

We beg to differ. The expected International Criminal Court arrest warrant tomorrow for President Omer al-Bashir and shifting international sands provide an unprecedented opening, making Sudan's prospects for peace riper than they have been in memory.

According to the arm-chair academics and Chicken Littles, the move by the ICC – its first charges against a sitting president in that institution's young history – will make peace impossible. Beyond the basic ridiculousness of the argument that we should not act against war criminals for fear of upsetting them, this line of reasoning is painfully detached from the reality on the ground.

During our eight trips to Darfur since the genocide began in 2003, we have found that displaced and war-affected Darfuris don't see a tension between justice and peace, and rightly note that one will be very hard without the other. The refugees and displaced put the problem in the clearest of terms: How can you have peace when the president of Sudan has tried to exterminate us, stealing our land, killing our men and raping our women? How can you have peace without justice?

The new Obama administration has sobered the Bashir regime, but made it no less dangerous. The leaders in Sudan's capital now understand that their abuses will not simply be swept under the rug if they offer token counterterrorism cooperation.

Bashir's troubles are mounting. His staunchest supporters are backing away, slowly. China is deeply concerned that its oil investments will be put at risk by Bashir's continued warmongering. Arab states have similar concerns about their huge investments in Sudan's oil-fueled economic boom. Egypt in particular sees Bashir as a liability. His regime supported the assassination attempt against President Hosni Mubarak in 1995, backed Saddam Hussein in the two Gulf wars, and now is fully behind Hamas in Gaza.

Tensions are boiling within Bashir's government in response to these challenges, and particularly the ICC. Some key regime insiders want to find an exit strategy for Bashir, whether that involves a comfortable retirement, standing him down in advance of upcoming elections, or removal. This group would then shift toward a greater accommodation with the international community, opening the door for better peace prospects. Others, however, are much more hard-line, wanting to impose martial law, withdraw from the north-south peace deal, and push U.N. peacekeeping forces out of Darfur and the south.

It is not an exaggeration to say that millions of Sudanese lives may depend on which group emerges victorious. How the Obama administration handles this immediate foreign policy challenge will have a major impact on the outcome. It is crucial for the new president's team to clarify to Arab states, China and others that the U.S. policy objective is a just and durable peace for Sudan.

Even more important will be Obama's ability to lay out a clear diplomatic strategy for achieving peace in Sudan, and sell that road map to other influential international actors. Remember the mantra of Darfur's displaced: no peace without justice. The administration ideally should pursue a two-track approach that seeks intensified peace efforts for Darfur and the south on the one hand, and the sidelining of the indicted war criminal Bashir on the other. On the peace track, the United States should be out front publicly, working closely with U.N., Arab League and African Union diplomats to establish a more credible and accelerated negotiations process. But on the latter track dealing with accountability for Bashir's crimes, President Obama's quiet diplomacy with China and key Arab states will be instrumental.

If Bashir and his cronies publicly laugh at this arrest warrant, it will be nervous laughter at best. The list of war criminals such as Charles Taylor, Slobodan Milosevic, Radovan Karadzic, Théoneste Bagosora and others who have been held to account for their atrocities is growing pleasingly longer by the day.

Prendergast is cofounder of Enough, the project to end genocide and crimes against humanity at the Center for American Progress. He also was a visiting professor at the University of San Diego. Ismail, an adviser to Enough, founded the Darfur Peace and Development organization.

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Tutu Fights for Justice

Posted by Rebecca Brocato on Mar 3, 2009

Source: www.enoughproject.org

On the eve of the increasingly probable issuance of an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, two opinion pieces discussing the issue appear in the New York Times. South African clergyman and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu has an incredible opinion piece in support of ICC action that rebuts arguments, such as the one put forth in an editorial by Franklin Graham, that “The removal of Mr. Bashir will make it harder to negotiate an end to the crisis in Sudan.”

Graham, the president of the evangelical relief organization Samaritan’s Purse, seems to insinuate that because Bashir addressed a handful of peripheral concerns voiced by influential Americans, he is a rational actor, and that he is a necessary component of any lasting peace despite the atrocities he has perpetrated. In combating that point of view, Tutu writes,

“There can be no real peace and security until justice is enjoyed by the inhabitants of the land. There is no peace precisely because there had been no justice. As painful and inconvenient as justice may be, we have seen that the alternative – allowing accountability to fall by the wayside – is worse.”

Enough has been a vociferous advocate of Tutu’s position that the peace vs. justice debate constitutes a false choice, and that justice is a necessary component of any peace effort in Sudan.

Tutu is one of the best known and regarded human rights activists in the world. His experience with truth and reconciliation as well as his gravitas makes his calls for justice in Sudan all the more powerful.

John Norris contributed to this post.

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The International Criminal Court will announce this Wednesday, March 4th at 8:00am EST (2:00 PM in The Hague) whether it will issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

Take Action! - Call the White House tomorrow morning

Call the White House today at 202-456-1111 and ask President Obama to condemn the violence in Darfur and warn the Sudanese government not to escalate its criminal campaign. Tell President Obama we must bring an end to the genocide under his watch and that you expect his administration to support the ICC's quest for justice for the Darfuri people.

Visit www.savedarfur.org/justice for a sample script and other action items.

WAITING FOR THIS MOMENT - LIVE FROM THE HAGUE

March 4, 2009 - WILL THIS BE A DAY OF COURAGE AND PRINCIPLES?

UNITED NATIONS WEBCAST

International Criminal Court
Select language English or French

News and Highlights

March 03, 2009

Updated information on the press conference of March 4, 2009 on the decision of Pre-Trial Chamber I concerning President Al Bashir of Sudan

After the press conference, which will be hosted by the Registrar of the Court, Ms Silvana Arbia, and the ICC Spokesperson, Ms Laurence Blairon, the Prosecutor, Mr. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, will also make a short statement in English and take some questions.

Pre-trial Chamber I's decision concerning President al-Bashir of Sudan to be announced during

The following text came today in an email from Save Darfur:

The International Criminal Court will announce this Wednesday, March 4th at 8:00am EST (2:00 PM in The Hague) whether it will issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

Take Action! - Call the White House tomorrow morning

Call the White House today at 202-456-1111 and ask President Obama to condemn the violence in Darfur and warn the Sudanese government not to escalate its criminal campaign. Tell President Obama we must bring an end to the genocide under his watch and that you expect his administration to support the ICC's quest for justice for the Darfuri people.

Visit www.savedarfur.org/justice for a sample script and other action items.

Rallies organized by the Darfuri community - Washington, DC and New York

We encourage you to attend upcoming rallies organized by Darfuri and Sudanese diaspora communities in New York and Washington, DC.

• Wednesday March 4th 1:00 PM: Darfuri community leaders in New York will rally in response to the ICC's decision on the Bashir arrest warrant. Join them at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza outside the United Nations (East 47th Street @ 1st & 2nd Ave).
• Thursday March 5th 1:00 PM: Join Sudanese and Darfuri diaspora leaders as they rally in front of the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, DC (2210 Massachusetts Ave).

Press conferences - live from The Hague and the United Nations on March 4th

The Pre-Trial Chamber I's decision concerning President Al Bashir of Sudan will be announced during a press conference at the Court this Wednesday, 4 March 2009. The press conference, broadcast live on the Court's website at www.icc-cpi.int, is expected to start at 8 AM Eastern.

In New York, the Coalition for the ICC will be organizing a briefing with journalists at 10:00 a.m. in response to the Chamber's decision at the United Nations Secretariat. We invite you to watch the CICC's briefing live (or access the archived video) at www.un.org/webcast.

Webcast - hear from Save Darfur and Enough

Tune in for a webcast on the implications of the ICC decision by the Save Darfur Coalition and the Enough Project. The webcast is scheduled for the afternoon of March 9, 2009 and will feature a discussion of what the ICC's decision on the Bashir warrant means. More details coming soon via e-mail, and posted at www.savedarfur.org/justice.

We look forward to working with you to ensure peace and justice during this important moment for Sudan.

GENOCIDE - WHEN NEVER IS NOW - SUPPORT THE ICC

IT TAKES COURAGE APPARENTLY TO END GENOCIDE
AND WE ARE PROOF THAT COURAGE IS RARE

About our fellow human beings.....

I received this text in an email today from another Darfur activist community leader.

* Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy has received very
disturbing news from different sources this weekend confirming that a
“Kasha” is taking place right now in the three cities of the capital
of Sudan, particularly in the marketplaces and shopping centers.
“Kasha” is a term in Arabic which loosely means, “Clean the capital of
dirt”. This term has been used since the time of former President
Nimery, during which time the security personnel and the police would
ask people in the streets for their IDs and where they came from. If
they found out that these innocent, unsuspecting people were from the
South, or Darfur, or Nuba, they forced them on trucks and sent them to
jail. In Jail, they would ask them to return to where they came from,
but only after inflicting extreme brutality.

When al-Bashir’s government came to power, he used the same term,
“Kasha”. At first the word was used figuratively, however it
eventually took on a literal meaning. Al-Bashir took on all the same
tactics as Nimery’s regime, only worse. Al-Bashir’s regime eventually
changed the term “Kasha” to “Al-Nizam” which means to organize or to
make tidy. While the actions behind the term remained the same, or
possibly worse, al-Bashir’s regime chose this particular term to
change the connotation of the process. By a simple turn of phrase, al-
Bashir managed to make his actions sound innocent, potentially good
even, and completely unrelated to genocide.

The act of “Al-Nizam” has escalated dramatically within a few days of
the indictment of al-Bashir. The escalation began when the security
personnel in mufty interrupted people in the marketplace, on the
streets and in various other public spaces. Once it is discovered that
a person is Darfuri, they are beaten up and taken to ghost houses
where they are beaten further and then tortured. These incidents
remind us of when the Justice and Equality Movement attacked Khartoum
and the government killed dozens of women and children, and tortured
several others. This time the government of Al-Bashir is apparently
sending a new message to the ICC and to those who are in support of
the indictment by taking action against the innocent Darfuris who live
in the capital. It is very interesting that al-Bashir has contradicted
himself. He claims that Darfuris are supporting him in Darfur, yet he
is abusing them in the capital city.

Damanga condemns segregation based on racism and the denial of
freewill to the citizens of Sudan that comes in tangent with that. We
urge the ICC to continue its effort against this tyranny, and bring
the tyrant to justice soon. We hope that all of the African leaders
will stand up and cooperate with the ICC, not with the perpetrators
and killers, so as to assure justice and dignity for the people of
Sudan. We urge the U.N. Security Council to continue its efforts to
enable the ICC to do its job, to bring al-Bashir and his cabinet who
committed genocide and war crimes, to justice. We also advise the U.N.
Security Council not to impede the efforts of justice and
accountability, and to continue to support the justice that the ICC is
trying to bring, until those perpetrators are all accountable, and
sent to The Hague. We applaud the arrest of former Yugoslavian
genocide criminal, Radovan Karadzic, and we hope that the arrest of al-
Bashir will follow suit. Date: July 29, 2008


* Mission of Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy
Through non-partisan research, analysis and public education, Damanga promotes the human rights of the people of Darfur, Sudan and elsewhere in the world. We educate the people of the region, the United States of America and beyond about their rights to freedom, equality and participation in government. Damanga seeks to aid the disempowered, including the victims of the Darfur conflict, through charitable work supporting education and livelihoods, so these people can work for the preservation of their communities.

Damanga works toward these objectives through publication on our web site of non-partisan research and analysis and presentations based on this research and analysis. Damanga makes these presentations at academic institutions, faith-based groups, human rights events and responds to invitations from concerned individuals and groups from diverse backgrounds.

Furthermore, Damanga seeks to protect the people of Sudan whose lives have been violated and marginalized because of their ethnicity, religion, gender, culture or language. Damanga wishes to improve the lives of the 8 million Massaleit, Fur, Dajo, Zagawa, Bargi, Tama, Gimir, Berty, and other displaced peoples in the Darfur region of Sudan. Damanga will continue to contact people in cities, in villages, and in refugee camps, to advocate in the world community on their behalf, and to establish a center for the purpose of gathering and disseminating information about the current crisis in Darfur.

By creating and maintaining a link between the oppressed people of Darfur and Western organizations, governments, and the media, Damanga hopes to coordinate a movement to end the genocide in Darfur, stop the oppression, and to establish the foundations of democracy. In order to accomplish this the founders of Damanga recognize that the following conditions must be met:

An international tribunal must be established to prosecute all those who have committed war crimes against the people of Darfur;

All internally displaced persons must be guaranteed the right to return to their towns and villages, they must be given free and full access to humanitarian aid, even in the most remote areas of the region, and they must be compensated for lives and property lost;

Once the people of Darfur are returned to their land they will need basic resources in order to build houses, schools, hospitals and other basic necessities of life;
Finally all of Sudan's people must be allowed equal political rights, which includes sharing in the power and wealth of the country.

>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:

The term Diaspora (in Greek, διασπορά – "a scattering or sowing of seeds") refers to the forced or voluntary dispersal of any population sharing common ethnic identity to leave their settled territory, and become residents in areas often far removed from the former.'

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An email text that I received July 26, 2008:

Some members in U.N. security council are preparing a
resolution to defer ICC case against al-Bashir.
Libya, South Africa, and Russia are working on a
resolution language.
France and Britain must stop these efforts.
U.S. is in awkward position
since it is not a member of the ICC.

The link to the story in NY TIMES :
U.N Debates Court Efforts to Prosecute Sudan Chief
a part of the article:

......John Prendergast, co-chairman of the Enough Project, which campaigns against genocide, said the Security Council’s ability to put off Mr. Bashir’s prosecution could provide the Council with its best leverage to influence Sudan. But he criticized the current talk of a suspension, saying the Security Council could squander its power by dangling the prospect prematurely.

“Faced with this extraordinary opportunity, the Council is ready to give it away without anything in return,” Mr. Prendergast said.

If the Security Council does vote on a resolution to defer the pursuit of Mr. Bashir, it could put the United States in a tricky position. The United States has been notably strong in its criticism of the situation in Darfur, going so far as to call it genocide. But it has not signed on to the International Criminal Court, and vehemently opposed its establishment...

Another email that I received today:

 The Special Courts of al-Bashir have just handed down
death sentences to 8 individuals allegedly
participated on May 10th attack on the Capital (Khartoum) by
Darfur rebel movement - Justice and Equality Movement - JEM.

......................................

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I'LL REMEMBER YOU
Performed by Grayson Hugh
(Featuring clips from the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes"
starring Jessica Tandy, Kathy Bates,
Mary-Louise Parker and Mary Stuart Masterson.)
From: FanfromPR

I'll Remember You

By Bob Dylan

I'll remember you
When I've forgotten all the rest,
You to me were true,
You to me were the best.
When there is no more,
You cut to the core
Quicker than anyone I knew.
When I'm all alone
In the great unknown,
I'll remember you.

I'll remember you
At the end of the trail,
I had so much left to do,
I had so little time to fail.
There's some people that
You don't forget,
Even though you've only seen'm
One time or two.
When the roses fade
And I'm in the shade,
I'll remember you.

Didn't I, didn't I try to love you?
Didn't I, didn't I try to care?
Didn't I sleep, didn't I weep beside you
With the rain blowing in your hair?

I'll remember you
When the wind blows through the piney wood.
It was you who came right through,
It was you who understood.
Though I'd never say
That I done it the way
That you'd have liked me to.
In the end,
My dear sweet friend,
I'll remember you.

www.savedarfur.org

1-800-GENOCIDE