U.S. and European media

July 7, 2023

Associated Press: African Leaders Denounce International Court. After bitter wrangling, Africa's leaders agreed Friday to denounce the International Criminal Court and refuse to extradite Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, who has been indicted for crimes against humanity in Darfur. The decision at the African Union summit says AU members "shall not cooperate" with the court in The Hague "in the arrest and transfer of President Omar al-Bashir of the Sudan to the ICC." Sudan welcomed the move, and other Africans said it was a signal to the West that it shouldn't impose its ways on Africa. A human rights group said the decision was a gift to a dictator. Reed Brody, a spokesman for Human Rights Watch, said the declaration contradicts the obligations of countries party to the ICC and "basically orders them to flout their legal obligations."

Reuters: Two Foreign Aid Workers Kidnapped in Darfur. Unknown armed men kidnapped two female aid workers, one Irish and one Ugandan, in Sudan's western Darfur region on Friday, a United Nations source said. The men seized the women, both working for the Irish aid group GOAL, from their compound in the north Darfur town of Kutum late in the evening, the source told Reuters.

AFP: Sudan Trying to Contact Darfur Kidnappers. Sudanese authorities were on Saturday trying to establish contact with kidnappers who snatched two foreign aid workers from their offices in Darfur, a foreign ministry official said.Gunmen kidnapped the Irish and Ugandan women from the office of their Irish aid group Goal in the North Darfur city of Kutum on Friday night. A Sudanese watchman was also seized before being released later. "We have not established contact yet," said Ali Yusef, director of protocol at the foreign ministry. "Normally in this situation they move away from the scene" before making contact.

Reuters: Irish Team Arrives in Darfur to Help Free Aid Workers. Irish negotiators arrived in Sudan's Darfur region on Monday to help free two female aid workers, one Irish and one Ugandan, kidnapped from their base by armed men.The team of Irish diplomats and trained negotiators arrived in the north Darfur capital of El Fasher, 120km (75 miles) southeast of Kutum, on Monday morning, U.N. officials said. "They will be there for as long as it takes," Ireland's honorary consul in Khartoum Ronnie Shaoul told Reuters. "They are there to negotiate with whoever may have abducted the two women ... They have a few thin lines to work on. There have been lots of rumours and hearsay but nothing concrete." He added the delegation was still waiting to hear from the kidnappers three days after the abduction, and had no information on their motive.

The Washington Post: Darfur Rebels Sign Deal With Sudan Opposition Party. Darfur rebels signed an accord with one of Sudan's main opposition parties in Cairo on Wednesday, agreeing to push for a new transitional government, both sides said on Friday, a move that will infuriate Khartoum. The rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), which attacked Khartoum last year, and the opposition Umma party told Reuters the deal was a "declaration of principles" and shared ideas and did not amount to a political or military alliance. But the sight of Umma, led by Sudan's last democratically elected Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi, sitting with insurgents will be deeply unsettling to Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, currently beset by a string of political crises.

Reuters: Sudan's Bashir Says New Plane Defies Sanctions. Sudan's president said on Sunday sanctions could not block development in his country, as he unveiled its first home-manufactured aircraft -- a $15,000 training plane that runs on car fuel. President Omar Hassan al-Bashir spoke at the latest in a string of defiant rallies mounted after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against him in March, to face charges of masterminding atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region. Bashir has repeatedly sought to highlight his government's development record since the court ruling, speaking this year at the opening of a hydroelectric dam, a new bridge in Khartoum and Sudan's first ethanol plant, among other projects. The United States stepped up sanctions against in Sudan in 1997, accusing the government of human rights abuses and supporting terrorism, then tightening the restrictions still further in 2006 over the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.

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