Sudan president: no mass rape
Updated on 09 October 2008
In a world exclusive interview, Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir tells Channel 4 News that evidence of war crime was fabricated.
He stands accused of committing genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity against African tribes in Darfur: yet the president of Sudan has told this programme he never ordered any killings or mass rapes.
Speaking to Channel 4 News in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, Omar al-Bashir claimed that the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in the Hague, who applied for an arrest warrant for the president three months ago, had fabricated his evidence.
Sudan's president and commander-in-chief, Omar al-Bashir, has exclusively told Channel 4 News that all the allegations of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes that have been made against him "are not correct" that "everything is fabricated and made up". He says that "no-one has more compassion for their people than we do in Sudan".
Denying mass rape and claiming that it "does not exist", Mr Bashir says that he will stand for re-election next year with the Sudanese people as "referee".
"The referee is the Sudanese people," he said. "They should decide if we are really criminals, or if we are leaders of the people who should govern them in the future."
Mr al-Bashir also said: "I issue a challenge: if I get less than 50 per cent of the people's votes in Darfur then truly I don't deserve to lead the country."
Yet the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court says President al-Bashir ordered his forces, both soldiers and militia known as Janjaweed, to murder and rape. A 112-page application has been compiled to indict him, which would make him the first serving head of state indicted by the International Criminal Court.
But Mr al-Bashir is resolute that these allegations are untrue and that "even in Darfur, you can say most of it is safe. There are no problems and life is very normal."
Mr al-Bashir is clear that "sources used by the ICC prosecutor are all hostile" telling the programme: "These allegations are not correct. Everything is fabricated and made up. Anything saying that we ordered killing people is untrue. The sources used by the ICC prosecutor are all hostile; they are from the rebels who revolted against the state."
On the allegations of mass rape, Mr al-Bashir says "mass rape does not exist" and that "the Darfurian society does not have rape."
"These are all false allegations," he said. "It's not in the culture of the Darfurians. The Darfurian society does not have rape. It's not in the tradition."
He added "The women inside the camps are under the influence of the rebels and some are even relatives of the rebels. That's why they make these claims."
Mr al-Bashir continued: "We are fully convinced that no rape took place. It might have happened at an individual level, but this is a normal crime that can happen in any country in the world. Mass rape does not exist."
Lindsey Hilsum with Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir
Backgrounder: Omar al-Bashir
Omar al-Bashir is the president of Sudan, and infamously known for being the first standing head of state that the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has accused of genocide, crimes agianst humanity and war crimes.
Three judges are now considering the request for prosecution made by the ICC Chief Prosector, Luis Moreno Ocamop, in July 2008. They are likely to decide within the next two months if the 64 year old president should stand trial.
Accusations of mass killings by militia, known as janjaweed, as well as wholesale rape and the forced removal of millions of Zaghawa, Massalit and Fur people from their traditional lands, form the basis for the charges against the Sudanese president. He denies any responsibility.
Bashir came to power in 1989, when as a Sudanese army colonel, he launched a coup which ousted the elected government of Sadeq al-Mahdi. Initially, he suspended political parties but later reinstated them and has remained in power by playing different factions against each other. In 1993, he dissolved the military junta, appointing himself civilian president.
The main challenge of Bashir's first decade and a half in power was trying to end the civil war between Sudan's north and south, estimated to have killed almost two million people. By the time that conflict was under control, in 2005, another was underway in Darfur, in the west of Sudan.
The Darfur conflict began when rebels took up arms against the marginalisation of Africans, and the domination of the government by an Arabised elite. Bashir is accused of sanctioning a vicious military response to stop the revolt, targetting civilians.
Initially, Bashir imposed some elements of Islamic law on the country. His rule has been characterised by economic expansion, as the the oil industry has been developed, notably by Chinese companies. While Sudan has a semi federal system, Bashir's government has resisted calls for greater representation of Darfur people in the central government in Khartoum.
If the judges approve the Mr Ocampo's request for prosecution, Bashir is extremely unlikely to be forced to go to The Hague to face trial in the near future. While the regime he heads is not strong, opposition forces are divided, and there is no apparent immediate threat to his rule.
Bashir was in the British tabloids last year when he intervened to pardon Gillian Gibbons, a British teacher imprisoned for insulting Islam by naming a school teddy bear Muhammad.
