Museveni apologises to Bashir -

Angelo Izama & Emmanuel Gyezaho Kampala The official Sudan News Agency [SUNA] yesterday reported that President Museveni called his Sudanese counterpart, Gen. Omar El Bashir, to apologise for comments by senior government officials that the Sudanese leader would be arrested if he visited Uganda in execution of an international arrest warrant. According to SUNA, Mr Museveni is said to have told Gen. Bashir that comments attributed to State Minister for Regional Cooperation Henry Oryem indicating that the Sudanese leader would be arrested, were not the position of the Uganda government. The news came in as MPs insisted that Uganda has a moral and legal obligation to arrest Gen. Bashir when he comes to Kampala for the SMART partnership conference, even though the government was non-committal on the matter and said it was “diplomatically engaging” Sudan to avoid a possible diplomatic incident. The latest government stand, which joins a series of conflicting positions expressed by the Ugandan government, suggested that Kampala was telling Khartoum that Gen. Bashir should not visit the country later this month to avoid embarrassment for both nations. The President’s Office could not confirm nor deny the reported phone call and said Mr Museveni would make a statement over the matter soon. “His statement will include all those details,” said Presidential Press Secretary Tamale Mirundi yesterday. However, Regional Cooperation Minister Isaac Musumba yesterday presented to Parliament a statement explaining the government’s official position over the controversy that has surrounded the invitation extended to Gen. Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for his role in the Dafur crisis. While Gen. Bashir is yet to confirm his attendance for the July 26-28 meeting, debate has raged over whether Uganda should effect a warrant of arrest for the first sitting head of state to be indicted by The Hague-based court in the event he makes the international trip to Kampala. COMRADE: Museveni (R) and Bashir at a meeting in Ethiopia in February. FILE PHOTO Several MPs said yesterday that Uganda is a signatory to the Rome Statute establishing the ICC and is duty bound to arrest and hand over anybody indicted by the court. “Uganda must stand by its international obligations,” said Kajara MP Steven Tashobya who chairs Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee. “We must be reliable partners and we cannot expect to tell other countries to arrest Joseph Kony and yet we cannot execute arrest warrants for another person indicted for war crimes.” Mr Musumba said although the Kampala administration was “mindful of our international obligations”, the government was cautious about avoiding embarrassment that may arise as a result of Gen. Bashir’s visit, due to the “intricate” national, regional and international dimensions relating to ICC indictments. “The government is therefore diplomatically engaging the Government of Sudan with a view of ensuring that while the invitation to President Bashir still stands, a possible diplomatic incident is avoided,” he said. But his statement did little to clear the storm, which took a dramatic turn this week with the visit of ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo. Mr Ocampo met President Museveni on Tuesday and is understood to have explained to the NRM leader the consequences of Uganda’s failure to effect the ICC arrest warrants. The reaction in Sudan to the goings on in Uganda following Mr Ocampo’s visit has been fierce, the SUNA reported. Buikwe West MP Onyango Kakoba said Uganda would be a turncoat if it failed to arrest Gen. Bashir especially since the country is the current chair of the UN Security Council which pushed for the Sudanese leader’s indictment by the ICC. “My advice is that Bashir should not be asked to come to Uganda,” he said. Kalungu MP Lule Mawiya, who chairs the House’s Foreign Affairs Committee, was critical of the government’s conflicting positions on the matter and accused Mr Musumba of presenting an ambiguous statement. “Are you saying you are inviting Gen. Bashir for arrest? Be clear in your statement so that we know exactly what Uganda is doing,” he said. Deputy Speaker Rebecca Kadaga then moved to Mr Musumba’s aid reading the paragraph in his statement that spoke of the diplomatic talks between Uganda and Sudan aimed at avoiding a fallout, telling the MPs; “Don’t force the minister to say any more than that.” Only Aswa MP Reagan Okumu spoke in defence of not executing the Gen. Bashir arrest warrant, because such a decision would herald instability in northern Uganda.