Khartoum, Asharq Al-Awsat- Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir has underlined Sudan’s refusal to engage with the International Criminal Court [ICC] which may take the decision to prosecute Al-Bashir in relation to the Darfur Crisis. The President stressed that the court has no jurisdiction in Sudan as Sudan is not a signatory of the Rome Statute [of the ICC], and he described what is happening as “a mosquito [buzzing] in an elephants’ ear.”
Al-Bashir added that he enjoys unprecedented popular support [within Sudan], and that the ruling National Congress Party [NCP] and its partner the Sudan’s People’s Liberation Movement [SPLM] are in the same boat, and are both committed to the peaceful rotation of power, the fending off of oppression and upholding the rule of law, rejecting any attempts to remove him from power.
Al-Bashir stressed that talks of a coup within the government, or a split in the ranks of the NCP were mere rumors put out by the opposition. He added that the reaction and the public support [for him] is very clear, and that is something 100 percent positive.
Regarding Dr. Hassan Al Turabi’s arrest after he had called for Al-Bashir to hand himself over to the ICC, the President said “Nobody is prevented from declaring their position on any public issue; we are guided by the constitution and the law. But when there is conspiring and plotting with suspicious parties, and attempts to split national unity which has united behind one key word and that is the rejecting of all attempts to undermine the sovereignty and independence of the country, then we must move towards opening all necessary legal proceedings against him [Al Turabi] using reasonable legal evidence, for nobody is above the law.”
President Al-Bashir also welcomed any new changes seen by the US government in accordance with the policy of change announced by new US President Barack Obama.
He added that pressure and threats only serves to increase their [Sudan’s] determination, saying that they act as incentives which only urge them to greater self-reliance.