Sudan’s Al-Bashir To Turkish Press: “No Genocide In Darfur”
Sudan’s President Omar Al-Bashir held a press conference in Istanbul where he attended the Turkey-Africa Cooperation Summit and responded to Turkish media’s accusations with reference to his indictment by the International Criminal Court’s [ICC] for committing genocide in Darfur.
Bashir opened his remarks by saying that he was in Istanbul at the invitation of the Turkish government. Bashir said that Sudan does not recognize the international court and has not signed the Rome protocol; and added that Sudan is an independent country that has an independent judiciary that tries all criminals, including soldiers, and that no Sudanese can be tried outside of Sudan.
Bashir said that Sudan went through great pain because of the civil strifes in the country and that peace had been reinstated in Darfur and anyone that visits there today would realize that genocide allegations were a lie. He noted that next year there would be clean and independent elections in his country that all parties were supporting.
Bashir accused foreign powers of having double standards and said, “Everywhere in the world, rebels that fight against the government are called terrorists but in the case of Sudan they call them victims and the government, terrorist”. He claimed that some powers were upset at Sudan because it refused to hand their oil and natural resources to Western companies. Al Bashir said, “Western media claims that 300 thousand people were massacred. Where are the graves of that many people?”
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