Sudanese Opposition Parties Threaten Election Boycott

Sudanese Opposition Parties Threaten Election Boycott

By Jennifer M. Haralambides
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KHARTOUM, Sudan – On the verge of Sudan’s first multi-party election in over twenty years, the opposition Umma party announced that it will boycott the elections if President Omar al-Bashir cannot ensure that they will be “free and fair.”

The Umma party, in conjunction with other opposition parties, gave authorities four days to implement reforms.  If the reforms are implemented, the opposition parties have said they will participate in the elections.  If the reforms fail, the election will be boycotted.

The major impetus for the opposition’s possible boycott stem from allegations of fraud against President al-Bashir.  The opposition is demanding, among other things, the end of “repressive security measures” and a four-week delay in the election, so that a new supervisory body over the election commission may be set up.   Additional demands include “equitable access to state media, public funds for political parties and a commitment to Darfuri representation in the presidency.”

President al-Bashir, who came to power in a coup in 1986 and currently is wanted for alleged war crimes in Darfur, has resolutely refused to extend the date of the elections.

For their part, Sudanese citizens appear to support having the elections, as opposed to the alternative.  One citizen, and English teacher, told AFP reporters that “[w]e don’t know if this boycott is final or not, but we don’t like the idea . . . It’s better to have the elections. With elections comes change, and we need change. Better to have elections than nothing at all.”

The war-torn country has not seen a democratic election since the coup that brought al-Bashir to power some twenty-four years ago.  Since that time 1.5 million Sudanese have died in the religious conflict between the mainly Muslim North and the South, which is populated mainly by those who follow traditional beliefs or are Christian.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Sudan Opposition Party Suggests Election Compromise – 2 April 2010

BBC News – Sudan:-Umma Opposition Party Gives Bashir Ultimatum – 2 April 2010

Independent Online  – Sudanese Not Bothered by Election Boycott – 2 April 2010

Reuters – End Violent South African Protests: Deputy President – 2 April 2010

Serbia Seeks Arrest of Nazi War Criminal

By Kenneth F. Hunt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BELGRADE, Serbia – A court in Belgrade, Serbia issued an international arrest warrant for a former Nazi accused of committing war crimes during World War II against Jews.

Peter Egner, 88, is suspected of committing mass murder during the Nazi occupation of Serbia. The Nazis occupied large parts of Serbia, including Belgrade, from April 1941 to October 1944.

He is accused of taking part of executing 17,000 civilians between 1941 and 1943, including “Jews, Romas, and political dissidents”. The indictment also suggests that Mr. Egner directly ordered some of those executions.

Some of the victims were executed in Belgrade in a van specially designed for gassing. Others executed later after being sent to concentration camps.

The alleged crimes occurred when Mr. Egner was part of a Nazi-run Serbian police unit known as Einsatzgruppe. Mr. Egner has consistently claimed not only that he was not a part of Einsatzgruppe, but knows nothing about its existence.

Mr. Egner, born in the former Yugoslavia, is an ethnic German, who has been an American citizen since he moved to the United States in the 1960’s. Mr. Egner also currently lives in the United States.

The United States Department of Justice has cooperated with Serbia in investigating war crimes committed by Einsatzgruppe, and plans to continue to do so.

As a result of the investigation, the Department of Justice has filed a motion with a federal court to revoke Mr. Egner’s citizenship.

For more information, please see:

B92 – Arrest warrant out for WW2 Nazi – 2 April 2010

BBC – Serbia issues warrant for ‘Nazi murderer’ Peter Egner – 2 April 2010

NEW YORK TIMES – Serbia Seeks Extradition Of Suspected Nazi From U.S. – 2 April 2010

UPI – Serbia issues warrant for WW II suspect – 2 April 2010

Iraqi Panel Moves to Disqualify Candidates

By Bobby Rajabi

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq – The committee in charge of vetting candidates in Iraq has found that six of the winning candidates in the March 7 general election should be disqualified for their alleged ties to the former Baath government. If the move by the panel is upheld, it would alter the election result, which resulted in former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s Iraqiyya coalition winning by two seats. Iraqiyya, however, lacks to the seats to form a government.

Iraq’s Accountability and Justice Commission found that six of election winners were members of the Baath political party. This was the party of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and is banned under Iraqi law. The Committee, sometimes referred to as the De-Baathification Committee, was formed to prevent people associated with Hussein’s party from standing for elected office. Officials from the Committee, who chose to remain anonymous, told the Associated Press that of the six winners, four of them belonged to former Prime Minsters Allawi’s coalition.

Officials from the Justice and Accountability Committee told the AP that they had originally submitted fifty two names to barred from the standing in the election. However, according to the officials, Iraq’s Independent High Election Commission did not act on the recommendations of the committee. Six of the fifty two candidates subsequently went on the win their elections.

Allawi’s Iraqiyya bloc has rejected to moves of the Justice and Accountability Committee. Hamid al-Mutlaq, a winning candidate that is a member of Iraqiyya, insisted that “those six winning candidates have the approval of the election commission and this decision is a political one, not a legal one.” The Independent High Election Commission, despite ignoring the fifty two names referred to them by the Justice and Accountability Committee, ultimately barred close to fiver hundred candidates from standing for election.

The State of Law coalition leader, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, is currently mounting a legal challenge to the election. Despite this challenge, both United Nations and United States envoys to Iraq have said the the March 7 election was credible.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Call to Bar Iraq Election Winners ‘Connected to Saddam’ – 31 March 2010

New York Times – Panel in Iraq Moves to Disqualify 52 Candidates – 29 March 2010

Associated Press – Iraq Panel Wants to Bar 4 Elected on Winning List – 29 March 2010

Renewed EU Sanctions Will Impact Fiji’s Sugar Industry

By Eileen Gould
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji – The European Union extended its sanctions against Fiji for six more months as a result of the post-coup government’s failure to respect human rights.

The EU implemented these sanctions in 2007 after Fiji failed to follow up on its commitments on human rights, the constitution, and the postponement of parliamentary elections.

The sanctions were extended to pressure the Fiji government to restore democracy and respect human rights.

According to the advisor to the delegation of the EU in New Zealand, the European Development Fund will withhold funds as long as Fiji refuses to honor human rights and the rule of law.

A large number of the measures aimed at stopping EU development funding for the Fijian government.   The sanctions also impacted Fiji’s sugar industry.

Economists and academics alike say that the sugar sector will suffer immensely as a result of the sanctions.

Between 2006 and the present year Fiji would have received 86 million dollars of aid. However, all of the funding has expired, with the exception of 38 million US dollars available for the upcoming year.

A professor at the University of the South Pacific noted that “[b]efore the 2006 coup the European Union fund was going to be a major injection into the industry which would have supported not only the efficiency within the industry but would have rehabilitated and supported production and efficiency at the farm level.”

The foreign aid would have made the sugar industry more competitive.

The 27 countries comprising the EU were not the only ones to impose sanctions on Fiji after the December 2006 military coup.  The international community at large condemned the coup, and Australia, the United States, and New Zealand also sanctioned Fiji.

The EU claims that humanitarian aid and other support to the general public can continue.

For now, the sanctions will be in effect until at least October 1.

For more information please see:
Radio New Zealand International – Continued EU sanctions against Fiji a blow to sugar industry, says academic – 02 April 2010

Australia Network News – Europe extends Fiji sanctions – 30 March 2010

Radio New Zealand International – Fiji loses millions in EU aid with extension of sanctions against Suva – 30 March 2010

Business Day – EU extends sanctions against post-coup Fiji – 29 March 2010

Belarusian Journalist, Critic of Lukashenko Government, Stripped Of Citizenship

By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MINSK, Belarus – A prominent Belarusian journalist and critic of the national government was stripped of his citizenship earlier this week.

Pavel Sheremet was informed by officials from the Belarusian Embassy in Moscow, where he is currently living, that his citizenship had been revoked.

The Belarusian government pointed to 2002 legislation which attached new requirements regarding Belarusian citizens who reside in other countries.  Those citizens face a possible revoking of their citizenship if they join a military, law enforcement or intelligence unit of that foreign nation.  The final order to take action against Sheremet was made by national Belarusian Security Council.

In response to the notification regarding his citizenship, Sheremet declared that he had done nothing to violate the 2002 legislation.  Since living in Moscow, he stated that he had not joined a Russian government agency of any kind.  He also questioned why, after he had been openly living in Russia for over a decade, the Belarus government decided now to take this action.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, an international non-governmental organization that attempts to protect the rights of journalists, was quick to criticize the actions of the Belarusian government and call for the re-establishing of Sheremet’s citizenship.

“Sheremet has long been critical of the regime of Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko and has been jailed, attacked, and harassed for his work in the past.  This latest official move appears as yet another act of official retaliation.  It must be stopped at once.”

Sheremet noted that “the desire to take away my Belarusian passport [was] a manifestation of aggravation of the Belarusian special services’ hysteria.”  He went to conclude that the action of Belarus was “revenge for [his] professional activities.”

Sheremet has been detained and jailed a number of times by both Belarusian and Russian authorities.  During the 2006 Belarusian Presidential election, Sheremet was jailed while covering protests that arose in its aftermath.  In 2004 Sheremet was attacked in Minsk and subsequently charged with disturbing the peace following his publishing of a biography critical of the Lukashenko government.

For more information, please see:

CHARTER 97 – Committee to Protect Journalists has called upon returning citizenship to Sharamet – 31 March 2010

CHARTER 97 – Paval Sharamet deprived of Belarusian citizenship – 31 March 2010

RADIO FREE EUROPE – Belarusian Journalist ‘Loses Citizenship’ – 31 March 2010

CPJ – More than two dozen journalists jailed in Belarus – 28 March 2006