Bashir welcomed in Darfur
2008-07-23 13:02
El Fasher - Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir greeted supporters in Darfur on Wednesday, guarded by bristling security, and dismissed as lies and accusations that he masterminded genocide in the region.
Travelling in convoy, accompanied by a helicopter and with soldiers, police and national security riding vehicles mounted with machine guns, Bashir was greeted at El Fasher, the old Darfur capital, by more than 4 000 supporters.
Civil servants, tribesmen, students, men on camels and horses greeted the head of state, pledging allegiance and slamming a bid from the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for Bashir's arrest over suspected war crimes.
Local government employees told AFP in El Fasher that they had been told to attend the rally, held outside under the searing sun, where Bashir danced to nationalist music, jabbing the air with his walking stick.
Members of those groups, the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa, some of whom belong to Bashir's National Congress Party, also attended the reception rally.
Return to their villages
Several hundred people made homeless in the five-year Darfur conflict, whom government officials said were returning to their villages on Wednesday, also shouted support and called for peace outside El Fasher airport.
"What Ocampo said about Darfur is lies... We have to find a solution to the Darfur crisis," Bashir told them, after leaving behind a military honour guard where he laughed and shook hands with local leaders.
"I came here to Darfur to say one thing. That every IDP must return to their village and then the government must supply social services," he said.
Making his first visit to Darfur since July 2007, Bashir will spend the next two days visiting the three state capitals in the vast arid region, El Fasher, in the north, Nyala in the south and El Geneina in the west.
Ambassadors were invited on the trip and resident British envoy in Khartoum, Rosalind Marsden, was among those travelling on Wednesday.
"We're not sure what Bashir will be announcing, or if he'll be announcing anything, but if he does we should be there at the appropriate level," the British embassy told AFP.
"Of course it does not signify a change in our policy with regards to the ICC," the embassy added.
Development projects
Bashir is scheduled to inaugurate development projects and hold talks with state government officials, local leaders and political party representatives.
His regime is focused on trying to persuade the UN Security Council to freeze possible legal proceedings should ICC judges issue an arrest warrant, on the grounds that it could jeopardise peace prospects.
"It makes him look politically very good if the people of Darfur welcome him and observers see thousands of people rushing to welcome him. This will give him a new image in the international community," said journalist Adil el-Baz.
- AFP