Presidents Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan along with Thabo Mbeki of the Republic of South Africa. Both nations have sought an independent foreign policy towards Africa and the rest of the world.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
BBC
An African Union panel has handed over a report aimed at finding a peaceful solution to the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region.
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki led the inquiry and delivered his findings to the AU in Ethiopia.
The bloc set up a commission after a global arrest warrant was issued for Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir, accusing him of war crimes in Darfur.
The UN says fighting in the region since 2003 has led to 300 000 deaths.
Sudanese officials say about 10 000 people died.
The BBC’s Uduak Amimo, in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa where the AU’s headquarters are based, says Mr Mbeki’s remit of balancing the need for justice, peace and reconciliation in Darfur was a daunting one.
Mr Mbeki said he would not make the document public.
But analysts say it is likely to recommend a local tribunal — backed by the AU, Sudan and possibly the Arab League — to deal with the abuses committed in Darfur.
Critics say the AU is using the commission only to find a way of avoiding the International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for Mr Bashir’s arrest — claims Mr Mbeki strongly denied.
The AU has already refused to honour the warrant and Mr Bashir has rejected the charges against him, accusing the ICC of colonialism.
Our reporter says analysts will be watching keenly to see whether the AU will accept and implement the recommendations of the commission it set up.
It comes after the UN's outgoing commander in Darfur said in August that the region was no longer in a state of war, but rather faced low-level conflict and criminality.
Analysts have pointed out that fighting in southern Sudan has claimed more lives this year than violence in Darfur.
The conflict in Darfur flared in 2003 when black African rebel groups took up arms against the government in Khartoum, complaining of discrimination and neglect.
Pro-government Arab militias then started a campaign of violence, targeting the black African population.
The UN says this led to some 300 000 deaths and forced more than two million people from their homes.
The US said it amounted to a genocide, but the ICC rejected a request to charge Mr Bashir with genocide.
The Sudanese government has always denied charges that it helped organise the militia attacks.
Mr Bashir has been charged by the ICC with two counts of war crimes — intentionally directing attacks against civilians and pillaging.
He is also accused of five crimes against humanity — murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture and rape.
Mbeki, not Obama, deserved Nobel
What exactly has President Barack Obama achieved to deserve the Nobel Peace Prize?
This question is crying out for answers in the wake of last Friday’s shock announcement that the United States leader has clinched the 2009 accolade.
As one cynical commentator aptly put it, now that President Obama has been awarded the prize, he must go out there and start earning it.
Other analysts have come to Mr Obama’s defence, saying he deserves the award — if anything For Not Being George W. Bush.
What an interesting way of looking at it. In other words, Mr Obama won the prize because of what he represents rather than what he has accomplished in his nine months in office.
We are the first to admit that Mr Obama is a sleek and tantalising politician who has shattered many barriers on his amazing journey to the top. His message to the American people is generally refreshing. His message to the world is quite uplifting. No serious watcher of global politics can begrudge him that.
The problem with the Obama presidency so far is that although he has been big on rhetoric, he has been abysmal when it comes to real action. He certainly knows all the right sound bites and how to package them for a media-savvy audience, but he has been found wanting on the practical side of things.
Let’s make one point clear here. We do not expect President Obama to wave a magic wand and single-handedly solve all the problems under the sun. Far from it. That would be impossible.
What we expect is that as commander-in-chief of a war-mongering superpower that has a lot to atone for, he should back up his rhetoric with real substance. Uncle Sam’s hands are dripping with the blood of the innocent all over the world and he had done precious little to redeem the US.
In his nine months in office, President Obama has squandered many opportunities to rehabilitate Uncle Sam and transform him into a respectable law-abiding member of the international community.
Here in Zimbabwe, the Obama administration has been disappointing. Zimbabweans reacted with stunned disbelief when President Obama renewed the US government’s illegal sanctions on this nation.
By making this unfortunate decision to prolong the suffering of innocent Zimbabweans, Mr Obama squandered a glorious opportunity to show the world that he is not cut from the same cloth as George W. Bush. The illegal US sanctions on Zimbabwe are not the only blot on Mr Obama’s record. There is the heart-rending issue of Cuba. Last month, the US leader extended by another year the evil 47-year-old economic embargo against the gallant people of Cuba.
To add insult to injury, the US government is also refusing to release the Cuban Five—brave patriots who are languishing in US jails for the simple crime of defending their motherland.
While the sanctions law against Zimbabwe was given the sickeningly deceptive title of “Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act”, the US war against Cuba has been waged under the bluntly named “Trading With The Enemy Act”. Perhaps the Nobel Committee has no problem with these evil embargoes?
In Afghanistan and Iraq, innocent civilians are losing their lives at the hands of a US-led invading force. Although President Obama has promised a phased withdrawal of American soldiers from these countries, he is yet to take concrete action on the ground to justify this newly bestowed title of “peacemaker”.
Palestinians are still suffering in the Middle East, thanks to a US-armed Israel that rides roughshod over human rights while recycling the excuse of an imaginary threat posed by Iran.
Surely, the Nobel Committee ought to know that the Western nations, in the volatile post-9/11 era, will never taste real peace until the Palestinian people find justice. After all, one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.
One obvious question that arises in this debate is: which world figure would have been a worthier recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize than President Obama this year?
Well, forget all the useless names that have been bandied about by political opportunists in recent weeks. One towering giant who would have clearly deserved this award is former South African President Thabo Mbeki.
President Mbeki may not be popular with certain figures in the West, but there is no doubt that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.
He used South Africa’s moral authority and economic leverage to champion peace and reconciliation across the entire African continent. Burundi, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Liberia are some of the countries that benefited from Cde Mbeki’s peacekeeping initiatives.
On the Zimbabwe question, President Mbeki was unjustly criticised for his so-called quiet diplomacy. But he silenced his critics when he successfully brokered last year’s September 15 Global Political Agreement that gave birth to a coalition Government bringing together Zanu-PF, MDC-T and MDC. His tireless mediation carried the day. If his efforts do not deserve a Nobel Peace Prize, then let’s forget about this Norwegian charade.
President Mbeki not only spoke of an “African Renaissance” but also lived it. His remarkable qualities came to the fore when the ruling African National Congress ordered him to step down as president of the republic before the end of his term. President Mbeki could have easily resisted, dragging South Africa into a bloody conflict. He did not cause a fuss, stepping down gracefully, once again outflanking his critics.
For these commendable efforts and more — and even though the Nobel Committee’s nomination process is scandalously subjective — Cde Mbeki should have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
But again, what do you expect from the Nobel Committee?
Remember, Adolf Hitler has been nominated in the past for this award and the laughable Desmond Tutu is one of the proud laureates!
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