China criticized for inviting Sudan leader

[JayAtl]

WASHINGTON (AFP) – China faced heated criticism in the United States for inviting Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to visit even though he is wanted for genocide and war crimes and is unwelcome in most of the world.

China's foreign ministry said Thursday that President Hu Jintao and other leaders would meet Bashir on his June 27-30 visit, during which the two sides will discuss "how to consolidate our traditional friendship."

Representative Frank Wolf, who has traveled to Sudan's violence-torn Darfur region, said that he saw first-hand that China was supplying planes, helicopters and arms that have fueled the conflict.

"The number one supporter of the genocide in Darfur that many people are so concerned about is the Chinese government," said Wolf, a Republican from Virginia and outspoken critic of Beijing.

"Now we find that they're welcoming Bashir. What more do we need to know? Lives hang in the balance," Wolf said.

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Bashir for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur, where the United Nations says about 300,000 people have died since 2003.

"China will distinguish itself on the international scene in the most shameful of ways if Beijing welcomes Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir," said Balkees Jarrah, international justice counsel at Human Rights Watch.

"Bashir is a fugitive from justice for heinous crimes in Darfur. Charges of widespread murder and rape should be cause for condemnation, not an invitation," she said.

Bashir is the first sitting head of state to be targeted by a warrant of the ICC, which means that any member country of the court is obliged to arrest Bashir if he visits. China, along with the United States, is not party.

A number of nations have refused visits by Bashir after pressure from human rights groups.

Bashir has canceled plans to attend a weekend summit in Malaysia, which declared earlier this year that it intends to recognize the ICC's jurisdiction to show its commitment to fight crimes against humanity.


China criticized for inviting Sudan leader - Yahoo! News

 

[JayAtl]

We can add another of the world's pariah as BFF of China. Shameful ...I'd like to see how many here will speak for this genocide perpetrator . massacred 300,000 people!

 

[casual]

at least china is doing something about it by talking to him about it. it's better then the rest of the world who does nothing on the issue and pretend that they are helping.

 

[JayAtl]

at least china is doing something about it by talking to him about it. it's better then the rest of the world who does nothing on the issue and pretend that they are helping.

It's apparent from your comment that you have heard about Sudan for the first time. Did you even read the article? the world has him indicted for genocide, china is talking about continued business with him and protecting him from Hague. He has a warrant for his arrest ! and indicted for the worst crime possible. Any decent citizen of this world be ashamed if their country protected a genocidal maniac like him.

 

[Ryan]

Bashir to visit China as Sudan border clashes erupt anew
June 18, 2011 02:06 AM
Agencies

ADDIS ABABA/JUBA/KHARTOUM /WASHINGTON: The U.S. is asking China to use its influence with Sudan’s president to press for an end to rising violence that threatens a landmark peace deal and South Sudan’s plans to declare independence next month, as fresh clashes between Northern and Southern armies erupted Friday on the country’s tense border.

The State Department said Thursday it wants China to urge Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to abide by the terms of the 2005 peace agreement that ended Sudan’s two-decade North-South civil war and led to a secession vote by the South.

Bashir is to visit China later this month amid a surge in fighting around disputed border areas that has raised fears of a renewed war.

The United Nations confirmed that there had been an exchange of heavy artillery fire coming from the direction of the Kiir, or Bahr al-Arab river, which runs through the Abyei region Thursday, where similar clashes reportedly took place Wednesday.

“This morning we received a report that the SAF [Sudanese Armed Forces – Northern army] were trying to move southward into Warrap state,” in South Sudan, Philip Aguer, the spokesman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army of the South, told AFP.

“There was fighting between Abyei and Agok [45 kilometers south] … But our forces repelled them and drove them back toward Abyei,” he said, adding that the Northern army had deployed all along the North-South border.

Northern troops overran the contested Abyei region on May 21, in response to an attack on a convoy of SAF troops and U.N. peacekeepers, in which at least 22 Northern troops were killed and which was blamed on the South.

The move prompted around 113,000 people, mostly pro-Southern Dinka Ngok farmers, to flee to the South, according to the latest U.N. estimates.

Aguer said Friday that five SAF soldiers had been killed and seven SPLA troops wounded in the fighting that broke out two days ago, near the river, but the SAF spokesman denied the Northern army’s involvement in any clashes with Southern troops.

“The SPLA has to find out who is fighting them South of the Bahr al-Arab,” said Sawarmi Khaled Saad.

Abyei is the most sensitive and intractable of a raft of issues that the two future states are struggling to resolve ahead of the South’s formal declaration of independence from the North on July 9.

But very little progress appears to have been made on these issues, despite Sudan’s two presidents agreeing “in principle” earlier this week to withdraw Sudanese troops from Abyei and deploy Ethiopian peacekeepers.

President Barack Obama met Thursday with his special envoy to Sudan, two days after recording an audio message to the Sudanese people, appealing for calm.

Meanwhile the United Nations is sending peacekeeper reinforcements to South Kordofan and has turned its main base there into a safe haven for refugees, U.N. officials said Thursday.

Over 120 Bangladeshi troops will lead reinforcements sent to Kadugli, the state’s main city where Khartoum government troops are battling forces loyal to Southern Sudan which is on the verge of forming a breakaway nation.

France’s U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud said a Security Council meeting had been told how Kadugli Cathedral had been razed and other churches burned during fighting and that the area around the main base of the U.N. mission, UNMIS, has become a “focus” of the fighting.

A U.N. peacekeeping spokesman said the company of Bangladesh troops had been sent to Kadugli and that the area around the U.N. compound had become a safe haven to protect civilians.

U.N. peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy told the Security Council that up to 6,000 people were camped out around the base. The United Nations estimates that 60,000 have been displaced by the fighting in South Kordofan alone, including about 70 percent of the population of Kadugli.

The Security Council is to get a briefing Monday from former South African President Thabo Mbeki and U.N. envoy Haile Menkerios on attempts to seal a peace deal between the North and South governments.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on June 18, 2011, on page 10.

Read more: THE DAILY STAR :: News :: International :: Bashir to visit China as Sudan border clashes erupt anew
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: THE DAILY STAR :: Breaking News, Lebanon News, Middle East News & World News)

THE DAILY STAR :: News :: International :: Bashir to visit China as Sudan border clashes erupt anew

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

ADDIS ABABA/JUBA/KHARTOUM /WASHINGTON: The U.S. is asking China to use its influence with Sudan’s president to press for an end to rising violence that threatens a landmark peace deal and South Sudan’s plans to declare independence next month, as fresh clashes between Northern and Southern armies erupted Friday on the country’s tense border.

The State Department said Thursday it wants China to urge Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to abide by the terms of the 2005 peace agreement that ended Sudan’s two-decade North-South civil war and led to a secession vote by the South.

LOL, that was a quick one.

 

[siegecrossbow]

Is Jaytl turning into an Indian version of Truthseeker or is it simply the other way around?

 

[NmHqh2JbVo]

"called up to the royal court of the middle kingdom to report and showoff to the rest of the world : they are protected."

 

[Aramsogo]

Is Jaytl turning into an Indian version of Truthseeker or is it simply the other way around?

He'll get banned again soon. I have no doubt.

 

[JayAtl]

Bashir to visit China as Sudan border clashes erupt anew
June 18, 2011 02:06 AM
Agencies

ADDIS ABABA/JUBA/KHARTOUM /WASHINGTON: The U.S. is asking China to use its influence with Sudan’s president to press for an end to rising violence that threatens a landmark peace deal and South Sudan’s plans to declare independence next month, as fresh clashes between Northern and Southern armies erupted Friday on the country’s tense border.

The State Department said Thursday it wants China to urge Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to abide by the terms of the 2005 peace agreement that ended Sudan’s two-decade North-South civil war and led to a secession vote by the South.

Bashir is to visit China later this month amid a surge in fighting around disputed border areas that has raised fears of a renewed war.

The United Nations confirmed that there had been an exchange of heavy artillery fire coming from the direction of the Kiir, or Bahr al-Arab river, which runs through the Abyei region Thursday, where similar clashes reportedly took place Wednesday.

“This morning we received a report that the SAF [Sudanese Armed Forces – Northern army] were trying to move southward into Warrap state,” in South Sudan, Philip Aguer, the spokesman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army of the South, told AFP.

“There was fighting between Abyei and Agok [45 kilometers south] … But our forces repelled them and drove them back toward Abyei,” he said, adding that the Northern army had deployed all along the North-South border.

Northern troops overran the contested Abyei region on May 21, in response to an attack on a convoy of SAF troops and U.N. peacekeepers, in which at least 22 Northern troops were killed and which was blamed on the South.

The move prompted around 113,000 people, mostly pro-Southern Dinka Ngok farmers, to flee to the South, according to the latest U.N. estimates.

Aguer said Friday that five SAF soldiers had been killed and seven SPLA troops wounded in the fighting that broke out two days ago, near the river, but the SAF spokesman denied the Northern army’s involvement in any clashes with Southern troops.

“The SPLA has to find out who is fighting them South of the Bahr al-Arab,” said Sawarmi Khaled Saad.

Abyei is the most sensitive and intractable of a raft of issues that the two future states are struggling to resolve ahead of the South’s formal declaration of independence from the North on July 9.

But very little progress appears to have been made on these issues, despite Sudan’s two presidents agreeing “in principle” earlier this week to withdraw Sudanese troops from Abyei and deploy Ethiopian peacekeepers.

President Barack Obama met Thursday with his special envoy to Sudan, two days after recording an audio message to the Sudanese people, appealing for calm.

Meanwhile the United Nations is sending peacekeeper reinforcements to South Kordofan and has turned its main base there into a safe haven for refugees, U.N. officials said Thursday.

Over 120 Bangladeshi troops will lead reinforcements sent to Kadugli, the state’s main city where Khartoum government troops are battling forces loyal to Southern Sudan which is on the verge of forming a breakaway nation.

France’s U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud said a Security Council meeting had been told how Kadugli Cathedral had been razed and other churches burned during fighting and that the area around the main base of the U.N. mission, UNMIS, has become a “focus” of the fighting.

A U.N. peacekeeping spokesman said the company of Bangladesh troops had been sent to Kadugli and that the area around the U.N. compound had become a safe haven to protect civilians.

U.N. peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy told the Security Council that up to 6,000 people were camped out around the base. The United Nations estimates that 60,000 have been displaced by the fighting in South Kordofan alone, including about 70 percent of the population of Kadugli.

The Security Council is to get a briefing Monday from former South African President Thabo Mbeki and U.N. envoy Haile Menkerios on attempts to seal a peace deal between the North and South governments.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on June 18, 2011, on page 10.

Read more: THE DAILY STAR :: News :: International :: Bashir to visit China as Sudan border clashes erupt anew
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: THE DAILY STAR :: Breaking News, Lebanon News, Middle East News & World News)

THE DAILY STAR :: News :: International :: Bashir to visit China as Sudan border clashes erupt anew

he is an indicted fugitive in international courts who does not travel outside his country into any civilized nations because he will be arrested and sent to Hague- but no such chance when it comes to china. china is not some small little country , it's a leading force in terms of economy. I mean this guy is responsible for 300,000 deaths .

Let me try it this way_ China has a cow when Dalia lama is allowed to visit any country and has issued a warrant for his arrest, but is okay with Bashir the genocidal maniac?
Is there nothing that you Chinese won't support or would not stand for in name of the fatherland?

This is not even political- it's genocide ! come on - this is way beyond protecting the national interest at all cost.

 

[JayAtl]

Is Jaytl turning into an Indian version of Truthseeker or is it simply the other way around?

So no comment about the world's biggest living genocidal maniac, but diversion to attacking the messenger!

am I missing something here? have we ceased to have any humanity, even a modicum of it- in the name of protecting the fatherland?

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

So comment about the world's biggest living genocidal maniac , but diversion to attacking the messenger!

am I missing something here? have we ceased to have any humanity , even a modicum of it- in the name of protecting the fatherland?

ALL genocides are bad, including the Indian genocide of 5.6 million of its own children every year (according to BBC news) or the American genocide of the Native Americans.

Again, genocides are ALL bad.

 

[lem34]

So what? Americas no better they entertain Bahranis Saudies and other despots and dictators. Americans welcome Israeli war criminals to America nobody says anything. In fact Bush and Blair are war criminals. I hate the hypocracy and two faced americans governments. They have the nerve to tell China what to do. China should spank them and dump the US dollar and teach them a lesson.

 

[JayAtl]

ALL genocides are bad, including the Indian genocide of 5.6 million of its own children every year (according to BBC news) or the American genocide of the Native Americans.

Again, genocides are ALL bad.

Hunger and starvation = your definition of genocide . I get it now and Thank you. For the longest time I thought , come on even the Chinese citizenry who themselves suffered a massacre the hands of the Japanese, will understand that this is not a good move by its govt or any govt. to have friendly relationships and business ventures with a man indicted for being responsible for over 300,000 deaths. But your post has cleared it up for me... I see how the word " genocide" gets defined by the Chinese to help justify bashir.

I have to apologize to you Chinese, I foolishly thought I would never see a countries citizen in unison about anything and everything and at all costs. Wow!

and what about stats of people dying of starvation in your country. we would not know about it right? because china never puts out those numbers. When close to 100k people died there because of the recent earthquakes , it said only few thousand died. you love to put out stats and articles about the free world- but when will your country truthfully put its failings on the table?

This is genocide and not political! but that has no meaning here it seeems.