Al-bashir Visits Darfur City Seeking Support

March 8, 2009

The Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy is closely following the news of Al-bashir’s visit to El-fashir City, the capital of North Darfur, on Sunday, March 8, 2009. Al-bashir was recently indicted by the ICC and an arrest warrant was issued for his crimes against humanity on March 4, 2009.  As a result, Al-Bashir, the notorious dictatorial president of the National Congress Party and former National Islamic Front Regime, was terrified and feared the ICC decision to arrest him and his fellow suspects for their crimes in Darfur. Therefore, Al-Bashir and his supporters immediately reacted to this news by terrorizing international aid workers and relief organizations in Sudan.

Al-Bashir aimed to only visit El-fashir, bypassing the rest of Darfur for fear of attacks by the refugees who are strongly supporting ICC decisions in Al-geniena, Capital of Darmassaleit.  This support has cost the refugees though, as they were recently attacked by Sudanese forces as a retaliatory reaction. Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy has learned from our sources in the area that there were a few thousand supporters to Al-bashir’s visit to El-fashir but they were solely comprised by the Janjaweed Arab militias and the Popular Defense Forces.  In fact, ninety percent of Darfur civilians, particularly refugees and internally displaced persons did not participated in the rallies to support Al-Bashir.  Many scorned these fake demonstrations that are being used to promote propaganda and continue to support the ICC decision to arrest Al-Bashir for his crimes against humanity.  However, many are unable to show their support for fear of reprisals from Al-Bashir’s regime.

Damanga has also learned that more than 3 civilians were attacked and killed by Al-Bahir’s security forces inside El-fashir prior to his arrival. These actions occurred on March 3, 2009, only a few hours before the ICC released news of the arrest warrant against Al-Bashir.  The entire city experienced high tension due to the deteriorating situation and expectation of the arrest warrant. All causalities and victims of El-fashir city market were young men, their ages ranging from 18 to 21. According to the witnesses, the attackers were chased by the public until the attackers found refuge in the main army station in El-fashir. Then the public was forced by the government to retreat or the military would open fire on them.
 
Damanga is saddened by this news and asks the US, UN, and the international community to immediately address these urgent issues developing in Darfur by supporting the ICC decision to arrest Al-bashir.  Damanga strongly supports the ICC in promoting justice to the region and holding Al-Bashir accountable for his war crimes.

Sudanese Reports show crowds of supporters for Al-Bashir. However, these supporters are janjaweed militia andthe army. These are not Darfuri Civilians and Refugees.