Botswana says al-Bashir must stand trial at ICC

And these new champions of human rights, Botswana, would (of course) not need the intervention of AU nor that of SADC when something 'thick' happens between them & their hostile neighbouring banana republic, Zimbamugabwe?.

Pity this concern of human rights only occurs when the country is led by an African, and everyone else is expected to maintain a thunderous silence when Dubya, Blair, Sharon, & 'Johnny' commit war crimes in Iraq. Why should we be concerned America, Israel & Britain are the champions of Human rights. They are Saints.
In the eyes of those minionic zebra-infested-puppets, Botswana, their masters( the US & UK) appear as St America & St Britain.

Hence they expect an African continent to be command-n-controlled by few hipocrites of the West.

Puppets of the West.

The government of Botswana, and any other government for that matter, has got a right to an independent and a different opinion from all of us. This independence should not be suppressed for fear of victimization or loyalty to any regional block or whatever they are called.

Al-Bashir has not been tried and I assume not been found guilty. The ICC believes he has got to respond to the allegations being put before him; these are very serious allegations committed against the people (African) of Sudan. These allegations should not be married to allegations elsewhere; a sin does not cleanse another sin.

We have not been told why the AU seems to think a vacuum will exist should Al-Bashir go at this moment? And why on earth would the AU seek a delay in this trial? Does this imply that the body recognizes that the Sudanese president has got to allegations to respond to?

Salutations to the governement of Botswana for taking a stand.

@Siphiwo

Good to see someone stand up and defend Mr Bashir and his gang. Siphiwo... you are a good South African, because who would want to hold Mr Bashir liable for all the war crimes and rape? Who cares? The Janjaweed only rape BLACK women... it's racial, but who are we to criticise? It's only the rape of black women! Siphiwe... these untermenshen deserve what they get. Africa is a shining beacon respecting human rights and Zimbabwe is an agricultural miracle! Holding human rights violators accountable has nothing to do with your "post-colonialism views" and more to do about crime. Back under your rock... where you belong.

Siphiwo, I agree with you that Bush and Blair should also be hauled to ICC for their actions in Iraq, Afghanistan. But protecting dictators like Bashir just because he's an African is plain stupid. These dictators will not stop because they know they can always count on their useless African leaders to protect them from being prosecuted.

We as Africans we need to move on and stop blaming everything on the West. We need leaders who are responsible, leaders who want to bring change to Africa, leaders who will improve the lives of Africans without fear or favour, leaders who will ensure tha African children are educated. Are we gonna blame the West for all the flops of Africa? Wake up Africa and open your eyes and start working hard for the sake of the coming generation. I admire Botswana for always speaking out against dictators!

This puppet of the West thing is outdated. Can Africans please start owning up for their mess and stop blaming the West for everything?

The abuse of sub-saharan africans has been an eons-old agenda ploy of the Arab States. I have yet to hear one "Real African" leader condemn this. Why? Maybe Siphiwo Siphiwo knows something I don't? Can you please share this with us the victims?

Funny too how Africans always want to comment on human rights issues in relation to GW Bush and Israel. When are we going to hold our leaders accountable? I am sure Botswana has been consistent on rights no matter who breaches them. Wake up! It is a genocide against mainly black Africans and only those who hide their heads in the sand would think otherwise.

Whether or not Botswana are puppets of the West is irrelevant. The question is: did al-Bashir commit war crimes or not? The argument seems pretty strong that he did, hence the warrant.

Siphiwo, You are a very pitty full man. Ever thought how Africa would have been without the west?

I would like to applaud Botswana for standing up against this tyrant. For too many years this power hungry narcissist has ruined so many lives and it is time that he be held accountable.

Well done Botswana.

And to the very ignorant Siphiwo Siphiwo – standing up for what is right doesn’t mean you are a puppet of the west. It means that you have integrity. And the West are not saints and have never claimed to be. But maybe you should stop being so prejudiced and see what we can learn from them because to be honest we’re not doing so well on our own.

Lets clean up our own yard first and then we can start dictating to the rest of the world.

Go Botswana!!! A shining example to the rest of Africa! They stood up against the Mugabe regime & now they are standing up for what is right once again! I wish our govt. would do the same.

I am very pleased at the stand that the Botswana Government is taking against the president of Sudan. It is amazing and very sad indeed that African heads of states time and again turn a blind eye to the suffering of our people. Most of them that voted against the extradition of al-Bashir are not elected themselves. When we South Africa during the Apartheid years were in the same situation we cried foul play when the west voted in support of the regime. We should learn from these mistakes and set an example. The internationall economic campaign against South Africa came about with the help of the international community. South Africa is not a puppet state if it votes with the west. It is the interest of the people of Africa that is at stake here. We should learn from these mistakes and set an example. African leaders are a disgrace when it comes to human rights, people are never put first. Intead it is their own greed and power hungry instincts that set in and they are supported by their cronies. A big applause for Botswana for honouring its treaties. Botsawna is one of the few countries with a long standing democratic tradition. It is absolutely nonsense to state that a country is a puppet if it puts human rights first. The world is one community and its problems affect us all. Thank you Botswana for showing the world that there are Africans that can think for themselves and putting people first.
D.Bearenbe

Once again I am proud to be a Botswana citizen! Congratulations to President Khama and Foreign Minister Skelemani for showing true grit, and not being afraid like other African Puppets to say what they feel!

Derek James

Who is going to prosecute Botswana for its abuse of Zimbabweans who were murdered and thrown away into forests? Can someone justify such behaviour fro saint Botswana? Justice delayed is justice denied. If Botswana is serious about human rights it should prosecute those cops who persecuted those Zimbos who were running from mad Bob. You have to clean your backyard first before you tell others to do so. Al Bashir deserves to be prosecuted but the motive here seems to be selective prosecution. Justice should be universal but a lot of big men out there twist it to suit their own ends. There is nothing very democratic about the Botswana government when you see the injustices meted on the San communities. Talk about hiding behind a finger. Bringing Al Bashir to the Hague will destabilise Sudan. A leeway should be found to balance the two.

Botswana is the puppet of the West & an Opportunist, THAT I wont change. To satisfy yourself, read the following document:

Dawn: Journal of Umkhonto we Sizwe, Souvenir Issue, 1986, by Chris Hani

"We decided that it would be futile to continue fighting because the enemy was bringing in more reinforcement. So we deliberately took a decision to retreat to Botswana. The aim of this decision is important to emphasise. This was no surrender to the paramilitary units of Botswana government. It was important for us to retreat to strategic parts of Botswana, refresh ourselves, heal those who were not well, acquire food supplies and proceed. We then crossed over to Botswana. But by this time the South African regime had pressurised the Botswana government to prevent us from getting into Botswana. We found a situation where the Rhodesian security forces joined by the South Africans were pursuing us, and within Botswana the para-military force had been mobilised to stop us from entering Botswana. We had to discuss seriously what our response was going to be if the Botswana security forces confronted us. It was difficult to reach a decision, it was really a dilemma. Botswana is a member of the OAU, and in theory it is committed to the struggle for the liberation of South Africa. So Botswana does not constitute an enemy of the liberation movement, an enemy of ZAPU and the ANC. We came to the correct political decision that we were not going to fight them. When they came to meet us they played very conciliatory and friendly, saying that they had not come to harm us. They said their instructions were not to engage us and that all they wanted was that we surrender and our fate would be discussed amicably. They also promised that we would not be detained. We accepted the bonafides and surrendered, only to discover that they were actually being commanded by white officers from Britain and South Africa. This caused problems for us.

All of a sudden we were manacled, hand-cuffed and abused. Of course all this is history now. We were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment: 3, 5 to six years and ended up in the maximum security prison in Gaborone. . . "

http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/mk/wankie.html

@Siphiwo
Nothing quite as authoritative as quoting a 23 year old document!!!!

Rape on the basis of ethnicity is not ok... and by defending Bashir that is what you do. He belongs in prison right next to George Bush and Tony Blair. (Their time will come, the evidence first has to emerge. It does take time.)

The problem is not double standards in the prosections of these war criminals.... it's YOUR moral double standards. You want Bush and Blair prosecuted, but NOT Bashir?

Could someone please explain to Africans what "Court of Last Resort" means? And that Bush and Blair would never face trial in the ICC becuase they have defensible courts in their home countries.

The reason why the ICC can interfere in Africa so much is because its courts are incapable, nonexistent, biased, unworkable and politically instructed so much of the time.

Unlike the Latin Americans or the SE Asians:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7986951.stm

Or

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7893138.stm

Marius

No, You're barking at the wrong tree: it's ICC that is hipocritical here. In fact, all these international bodies: IMF, UN, WHO, ICC, IPCC, etc are just toothless bodies which are always taking advantage of poor countries's desperation. America brought us into recession, but IMF (wont ask additional interest rates from America) is rather looking forward in reaping the rewards of the loans that would have to be paid back by SA, Brazil, NZ & other developing nations who are now forced to borrow more in order to keep their economies afloat.

On the other hand, UN has decided to maintain a thunderous silence on the matters relating to Olmert's agressive attack against poor ordinary Palestinians. In fact Israel gave the UN & other Human Rights bodies a middle finger when they wanted to investigate the cause, approach & the behaviour of both states in that conflict.

Now we, Africans, are expected to dish our leaders with a grin in our faces while the rest of the world is showing these 'so called' Human Rights bodies a huge Middle Finger.

To me, that sounds Hipocritical or (to steal your phrase) Double Standard.

3 of the 4 African countries before the ICC referred the cases to the ICC THEMSELVES. Darfur was referred to the ICC by the UN Security Council. Your assertion that the ICC or the West is "picking on" Africa is therefore NOT true, as the countries themselves are referring the matters to the ICC. Nothing like the facts to ruin an argument?

Poor Siphiwo!

He is such a victim! Ag siestog, everybody hates him... everyone is out to ruin the poor African. And Africa is such a model of governance and prosperity.

As a Motswana,i'm very proud of the stance that our government has taken on both the Zimbabwe issue and the ICC warrant on Omar al-Bashir.It's laughable that people like Siphiwo want to paint Botswana as a "puppet of the west" based on some 23year old document,when the truth of the matter is that most of the problems that Africa has is caused by leaders like Omar al-Bashir,who have no regards for the welfare of their people,and who rape,plunder and pillage,all with impunity because they know that none of the other African leaders have the guts nor the integrity to call them on their excesses.Botswana at independence was just a very poor country with only 5km of tarred road,but it has managed to become a middle income country in just 40years because of good governance.There are diamond revenues,but there are bigger African countries with more natural resources which have stagnated economically because of wrong headed policies such as being practiced in the Sudan now.As such,all real African "leaders" should condemn,in in the strongest terms,the atrocious acts perpetrated by Omar al-Bashir and his ilk.Instead,they defend him.But where do they turn to for "aid?"The West!But Africa has tremendous natural resources,and if there was good governance in Africa there wouldn't be the abysmal poverty that we see in Africa today.But it's easier to talk about the hypocrisy of the west than look in the mirror,and ask ourselves,why is Africa so poor?And the answer is bad leaders and their enablers.

I agree that Botswana isn't perferct,especially with the current president,but what country is?The point is we should not be wasting time defending the defensible.Do you think genocide practiced by an African makes it better?No,it's still genocide.

Has anybody ever told these people that Bush and Blair's people in UK & USA have food, security and shelter. They are not murdered by their leaders or security apparatus. Murder by Bush or Blair anaywhere in the world if they ever committed one, does not justify murder of Sudanese people by Al Bashir and should not be an explanation for it. Africa has had enough. I hazard to guess, but I suspect that the number of African people killed in since the period of independence of African states, is approaching the number of Africans abducted during the period of slavery. And all this killing is done by Africans to Africans.

I know blame it on neo-colonialism, imperialism, capitalism the lot. But Africans are doing the dying. Somehow this must be stopped. Try to recall for example the murderous episodes of the likes of Idi Amin (Uganda), Marcius Ngwema (Central African Republic) Mobutu (Zaire), Hastings Banda (Malawi, then the civil strifes in Biafra, Algeria, Egypt, Mureatania, Morocco/Saharawi. Let's not forget the perennial coups which plague the African continent. Nigeria, Ghana,Burkina Faso, Guinea etc. Then the recent madness in Kenya, and Zimbabwe. Not that most African countries are doing any better. There was an attempted coup in Lesotho, a serial husband ruler in Swaziland who does not want democratic rule. The ever posponed elections in Angola. Boy! Africa is bleeding!.