U.S. and European media

July 16, 2023

BBC: Uganda 'will not arrest Bashir'. Officials had been quoted saying Mr Bashir would be held under an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for his arrest issued in March. This would have contradicted a decision by the African Union, of which Uganda is a member, not to honour the warrant. The ICC accuses Mr Bashir of organising attacks on civilians in Darfur. Earlier in the week, Uganda's state minister for international affairs Henry Oryem Okello told the press that Mr Bashir faced arrest in Uganda. But Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has now reportedly apologised for this statement.

Reuters: Uganda says Sudan's Bashir to send deputy over ICC. Uganda said on Thursday Sudan's indicted president had agreed to send a deputy to an economic meeting in Kampala after comments that the east Africa nation may act on international arrest warrants. Sudanese state media and Ugandan newspapers said Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni had called Sudan's Omar Hassan al-Bashir to apologise for comments from a junior minister that Kampala was mulling whether or not to arrest him. Bashir, indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over crimes in Sudan's western Darfur region, was due to attend a meeting in Kampala on regional integration from July 26-28. "The invitation still stands ... (but) we will handle it through diplomatic channels to avoid embarrassment and inconvenience to anybody," James Mugume, a senior Ugandan foreign affairs official, told Reuters by telephone.

VOA: S. African President Urged to Honor ICC Warrant for Sudan's al-Bashir. Prominent South African individuals and civil society groups have urged President Jacob Zuma to publicly state that he respects the country's constitution and treaty obligations. The call follows an African Union decision not to honor the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for Sudan President Omar al-Bashir. In a statement, the organizations and individuals said the decision by the African Union to withhold cooperation from the ICC with respect to the warrant for Mr. al-Bashir represents the most serious challenge to the struggle against impunity and lawlessness on the African continent.

AFP: Sudan oil district smoulders ahead of court ruling. Gutted busses and burnt out huts bear witness to an explosive row over Sudan's Abyei oil district, where an imminent court ruling on rival claims by civil war foes could stoke new trouble. The area sits on the tense border between the Muslim north and the mainly Christian and animist south. It was given special administrative status in the north under a 2005 peace deal that ended Africa's longest-running civil war. But after deadly clashes broke out here last year, the north and south agreed to refer the boundary dispute to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, which is expected by July 23. "We're afraid there'll be fresh fighting. God only knows what will happen," says Felix, who works at a small clinic. "People are concerned, people are afraid," Abyei's chief administrator Arop Mayok told AFP. "They think that if the verdict is in favour of one of the parties, there will be problems, that the losing side may react negatively."

Reuters: Fidelity funds block genocide-linked proposal. Shareholders of four funds at Fidelity Investments, the world's largest mutual fund manager, rejected a proposal on Wednesday that would have blocked investments in companies linked to genocide. Although the measure was defeated for a second straight year, human rights activists lauded what they see as promising investor support for easing suffering in Sudan's Darfur region. Support for the measure at a Fidelity shareholder meeting ranged from 18.1 percent to 24.6 percent of the funds, which voted on a proposal to bar investments that "substantially contribute to genocide or crimes against humanity."

CSR: Anti-Genocide Shareholder Proposal Earns up to 25% of Votes at Fidelity. At today's Fidelity shareholders meeting, results were announced on votes cast by millions of Fidelity customers on adopting a policy to prevent Fidelity from investing their savings in companies that substantially contribute to genocide or crimes against humanity. By voting "FOR" ballot Question 3, shareholders asked the fund's Board to "institute procedures to prevent holding investments in companies that, in the judgment of the Board, substantially contribute to genocide or crimes against humanity, the most egregious violations of human rights."


The Darfur Daily News is a service of the Save Darfur Coalition. To subscribe to the Daily News, please email [email protected]. For media inquiries, please contact Ashley Roberts at (202) 478-6181, or [email protected].