Public Outrage in Sudan

And here we thought it would never happen, that the great good public of Sudan would finally recognize the direly odious behaviour of their government in Khartoum and censure it unequivocally, stating with no room for doubt that their government will not murder, rape and make homeless hundreds of thousands of Darfurians on their watch.

Oh, the public outrage of which Sudan's ambassador to the United Nations speaks doesn't relate to the atrocities committed by its government, after all.

It is the threat hanging over the heads of westerners within the Sudan should the International Criminal Court issue an arrest warrant for Sudan's leader, Omar al-Bashir. Charges dearly earned by Mr. al-Bashir and the government he heads, levelled against them and stated as the commission of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Western Sudan's Darfur region.

Can't get more precise and condemnatory than that, right? Right to the point, and quite about time. Despite which, even with those charges hanging over Khartoum's head, the slaughter of the vulnerable continues unabated. And it's a standoff at this point, with the government of Sudan claiming it has done nothing extraordinary in its zeal to protect its interests against rebellious tribes intent on upsetting the country's affairs.

With the horrified world looking on at the reports of ongoing atrocities, with Khartoum engaging the services of the Janjaweed militias working alongside the Sudanese military to tamp down the 'rebellion' and to remove Sudanese farmers from their territory in Darfur, freeing up the land for other, more important purposes relevant to the needs of the country.

There is a growing sense of unease among the United Nations representatives, various humanitarian aid groups and government diplomatic personnel working within Darfur. There is a recognized need to warn them in advance so they may take all necessary precautions to protect themselves from a promised, violent backlash. All is tense; the arrest warrant will be issued, but not quite yet for "no date has been announced".

Mr. Bashir is charged with planning and executing actions by his Arab-led government to disenfranchise and destroy three rebellious African tribes in Darfur, protesting their neglect by the government. A government grown wealthy on oil revenues, but with no necessity seen to improving the lives of all their citizens.

A government complicit with the Janjaweed herders driving farmers off their land;
drought, and an unfortunate scarcity of pasturage no longer allowing them to accommodate one another.

When the arrest warrant is issued it will be marked as the first to have been issued in the International Criminal Court's mandate to bring to justice the identified perpetrators of the world's most egregious human rights atrocities. And in this instance, against a sitting head of state. That too expresses their mandate; that no one, regardless of status, is exempt from blame, actionable responsibility and arrest leading to trial.

But, claims Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem, Sudan's UN ambassador, "This would be a crazy move, an insult to the country ... We cannot predict what the public outrage would be." So it's a heads-up to all those foreigners, particularly westerners in the country, to remove themselves with alacrity lest they become unfortunate statistics resulting from the Sudanese government's inability to control angry mobs.

Which will invariably result in attacks on any westerners unfortunate enough to be found in the streets. And which the Sudanese government will most certainly not go out of its way to restrain.