Suprise and Surprise, but how is this not a farce and how do we know Sudan is being genuine?
It is fascinating to note how the justice minister is being appointed only after a massive international circus concerning the indictment of Omar al-Bashir for his war crimes and only after a massive domestic and international pressure reached a critical boling point.
It would be interesting to see how much the mandate extends and for what crimes exactly and what the purview would be?
I am worried that the purview of crimes might be inherently limited to the absolute bare necessary to satiate international pressure and to acquit Omar al-Bashir from any malfeasence in Darfur.
So far it looks cosmetic, I do not want to bet Sudan on the findings, no matter how transparent they may seem, until it can be confirmed by other countries, hopefully non-African countries to show concurrence with the findings.
Of course the findings may be also politically expident and bowdlerized to avoid the highly explosive material needed to create a national or international incidient but rather one that toes the Sudanese line of "yes, crimes were commited, but they were inadvertant", rather the the international line which claims that these crimes were deliberate, premeditated and meticoulously executed and had genocidal intent.
I am currently holding this card in my hand but I don't know when to play it and how to play it, because I can't tell you what Bashir's cards are in this circumstance. I know, it is not motivated by altruism or genuine contrition for the victims, but rather circumstantial.
I would be curious to see how Sudan's notorious censorship and corruption obstructs the work of the justice minister acting as prosecutor, and I expect it to be the line of "We have met victims of rape and torture which occurred with the Janjawid, however, the Janjawid are fully aware of the actions of criminal members and have taken necessary action" rather then the line "this was a premeditated campaign that was meticoulously designed to annihilate all rebel factions, including civilians, in a method of collective punishment, and to punish civilians for being a base of support" which is what it actually was to any international observer outside of Sudanese, Chadian and Central African territory and to the civilians who reside in this vast area.
