Ghanaian President John Kufuor: «A testament to the great successes of Ghana.»

© afrol / Frédéric de La Mure / Gouvt. française

afrol News, 29 January - Once again, the Sudanese President Omar Hassan el Bashir has been rejected in his bid to become the President of the African Union (AU). The AU Commission boss, Alpha Oumar Konaré spilled the beans in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa where an AU summit opens today. Rather, AU member states have almost unanimously chosen Ghanaian President John Kufuor for the one-year post.

Sudan's quest to occupy the top continental seat was twice deferred and the rejection was mainly blamed on the Darfur crisis, especially at a time when AU members have been urged to build consensus for the urgent deployment of a joint AU-UN mission in Darfur. Sudan would be seen as a player and referee in the Darfur crisis if President el Bashir became the AU boss.

The Darfur crisis has dominated the AU summit today, with the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon believing that "together we must work to end the violence and scorched earth policies adopted by various parties, including militias, as well as the bombings which are still a terrifying feature of life in Darfur."

In recent times, an accord for the deployment of a UN-AU hybrid force was reached, but the Khartoum government only welcomed a limited contingent with technical/logistic duties, rather than operative.

Sudan has been at the daggers end with the international community and human rights organisations, who warned that electing the country as chair would compromise the AU's reputation.

"Electing Sudan as chair of the African Union while it defies the decisions of the AU and UN to send peacekeepers to Darfur would undermine the credibility of the AU as well as its own commitment to uphold human rights in Africa," said Tawanda Hondora of Amnesty International's Africa Programme.

"Sudan is a key party to the conflict that AU forces are monitoring in Darfur and is responsible for committing grave human rights abuses. Thousands of people have been killed by government-backed militias. AU forces would be put in an untenable position if Sudan is given the leadership of the AU," said Mr Hondora.

"Sudan's election to chair one of the main decision-making bodies of the AU would be a glaring conflict of interest that would compromise the AU's impartiality and effectiveness," he added.

Amnesty said the objectives of the AU, as set out in its Constitutive Act, include the promotion and protection of human rights, peace, security and stability on the African continent.

"The AU already deferred a decision to grant the chairmanship to Sudan in 2005 and 2006 due to Sudanese government violations in Darfur - we hope that African governments will not change this stance, given the persistent failures of the government of Sudan to stop human rights abuses in Darfur," said Mr Hondora.

Human rights activists have been blaming the Sudanese government for its consistent failure to protect the people of Darfur from gross human rights violations, including mass killings, rape and forced displacement. Sudanese forces continue to act in violation of international standards of human rights and international humanitarian law in Darfur, including recently launching air attacks that killed scores of civilians.

Sudan is also said to be continuing to support the Janjaweed militias, which are responsible for continuing grave human rights violations in Darfur and eastern Chad.

Since the current conflict in Darfur began in 2003, about 85,000 people have been killed while 200,000 have died of hunger or disease and more than two million have been displaced, mainly due to attacks by Sudanese forces and Janjaweed forces armed by the Sudanese government.

While Sudan's bid for the AU presidency therefore again was turned down, Ghana with its positive human rights record and stable government turned out to be a good alternative. Ghana, which houses a peacekeeping institute founded by ex-UN Chief Kofi Annan, has a long experience of playing a positive role in ending the many conflicts in neighbouring countries such as Côte d'Ivoire, Togo and Liberia.

In Ghana and the Ghanaian government, the news of Mr Kufuor taking over the AU presidency was received with great pride. Citizens and the press saw the appointment as a testament to the great democratic and economic successes of Ghana during the last decade, which had made the West African nation a model country.

Ghana, when elected, will take over the AU presidency from Congo Brazzaville, where President Dénis Sassou-Nguesso has represented the continental body during the last year.

By staff writers

© afrol News

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