While ICC judges have been chewing on whether or not to issue an indictment for Sudan’s president, as requested by the Court’s Chief Prosecutor, for over six months, one thing they will not be chewing, when their decision comes out tomorrow, is the warrant itself. President Bashir politely made such a request today:
“They will issue their decision tomorrow … this coming decision, they can prepare right now: they can eat it (the warrant),” Bashir told a crowd of cheering supporters who lit and stamped on an effigy of ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo.
Sudanese government officials are no strangers to provocative bluster, even if it comes out nonsensical or at odds with their intentions. When security chief Salah Gosh warned that, if an indictment came down, the ruling party would renege on its transformation from Islamic extremists to “moderate and civilized” leaders — inadvertently offending, as Michael Kleinman wittily points out, potential attendees of the next “jihadist disco night” that Sudan may want to host. And of course, top presidential adviser (and potential rival for power, should Sudan’s cabal lean toward dumping Bashir) Nafie Ali Nafie infamously told former U.S. Secretary of State to “lick her elbow” when she took a hard line on Sudan.
The meal will be served tomorrow morning in The Hague. And elbows off the table, please.
(image from flickr user Dia™ under a Creative Commons license)