the warrants against Bashir is the subversion of negotiations and diplomacy
The ongoing effort coming out of Khartoum is to frustrate implementation of the CPA. I don't have to believe what I read in Op-ed pieces or hear at committee hearings to see this, I have only to look at the Sudan Times and read on the ground reports from UN personnel, the latest of which on the Malakal Crisis. Reports whose integrity I rely on subject to their own disclaimer:
Disclaimer: This report is a consolidation of information from OCHA field reports, UN agencies, UNMIS, NGOs, GoSS-SSRRC and other humanitarian partners. The report is subject to availability of data and does not claim to be exhaustive or fully verified and does not represent the official position of the United Nations. If you have inputs for the next edition, or questions/comments to the current issue, please contact. . . .
The only positive role this might play is adding some sort of leverage: "make a reasonable deal Bashir, and we'll withdraw the charges"... However I doubt that he cares that much, especially given that most of Africa and the Arab world is signaling that they won't accept the warrant. It might even harden his stance. It seems risky either way. The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom - William Blake
But the AU isn't worth much of a damn as a political entity, nevermind a legal one, and it's going to be a long, long while before it is.
I guess the take-home point here is that it's not trivial to balance the need for some semblance of international rule of law with the need to support emerging local institutions.
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
Especially, if we're talking about regional stability seriously, the AU should be put on all sorts of whatever is the diplomatic and economic equivalent of steroids for international organizations as fast as possible. Ignoring it does not help. The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom - William Blake
