TONY COX, host:
This is News and Notes. I'm Tony Cox. Time now for our Africa update. This week, violence and protests continue in Sudan one week after an arrest warrant is issued for the country's president. Plus, rumors fly after Zimbabwe's prime minister was injured in a car crash and his wife is killed. We'll get the latest on what this might mean for the country's power-sharing government. For more now, we've got Bill Fletcher. He is a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies and former president of TransAfrica Forum. Hey, Bill.
Mr. BILL FLETCHER (Senior Scholar, Institute for Policy Studies; Former President, TransAfrica Forum): How you doing?
COX: I'm doing fine. Thank you very much.
Mr. FLETCHER: Good.
COX: The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, on charges of war crimes in Darfur. That's the region in Western Sudan, of course, where tens of thousands of people have been killed. Some 2.5 million displaced. Now, al-Bashir has denied the charges billed against him. Last week, hundreds protested in Sudan's capital city to show their support for him, and he has been nothing if not defiant in the face of the indictment. Is this simply saber-rattling on his part?
Mr. FLETCHER: You know, Tony, this is one of those situations where I feel like people lost the forest for the trees. Al-Bashir is a war criminal. There's no question about that. The situation in Darfur is horrendous. Yet, it is a political problem. It is not simply a problem that can be resolved by issuing an arrest warrant on someone where no one has the capacity to actually arrest him. Additionally, the problem is that it's not just him. This is one of these issues that the West often misreads. There's a regime there that, in my opinion, is a criminal regime. But it's a regime. It's not just al-Bashir. So it's not as if simply the removal - if you had a giant helicopter and could go over to Sudan and beam him up - it's not as if at that point, the situation would resolve itself and so more attention needs to be going towards a political solution.
COX: You know, it's interesting that you should say that because Monday night, four United Nations peacekeepers were wounded when gunmen attacked their vehicle in Western Darfur. It's the first attack on peacekeepers since the arrest warrant was issued. And your point about it being beyond just al-Bashir and questions about the case is shaping up against him, those are some really important unanswered questions, aren't they?
Mr. FLETCHER: Absolutely. I mean, you know, what happens - and I was thinking about what you said in your opening - that you put peacekeepers and humanitarian volunteers at great risk when something like this is done because basically now al-Bashir has his back up against the wall, there's like no way out. And the discussions that need to happen about a political solution become far more complicated. The question is what's the incentive? If he knows that he's going to be grabbed at some point, why is he going to settle? Why not just take the hard line? That's the problem that I feel like decisions like this completely ignore.
COX: Before we move on to Zimbabwe, I have one more question about this, and that is what the United States's role should be here now.
Mr. FLETCHER: Oh, I think that absolutely we and the United States have a critical role in bringing about a political settlement. You know, one of the only things that the Bush administration did that was of any value to this planet was the mediation of the North-South Civil War in the Sudan where they actually did a remarkable job and in helping to bring that about - not that it's stable, but helping to bring it about. The United States needs to be deeply involve with the AU in bringing about a political solution to the Darfur crisis. It is not going to be resolved by no-fly zones, by indictments against al-Bashir. It's going to be resolved ultimately through a political solution.
COX: All right, let's move on to Zimbabwe, where on Friday, the new prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai was injured when his car was sideswiped by a truck on the outskirts of the capital city Harare, his wife Susan killed in that accident. The question as you know, Bill people are asking was it an accident? Tsvangirai himself is saying he doesn't believe that it was, what do you say?
Mr. FLETCHER: It's - my assumption is that Tsvangirai in saying that is being truthful. I think that if he believed that it was a hit, he either would not have commented or he would have been more circumspect in his answer. So, I would follow, take him at his word that this was a horrible accident that took place. Certainly when news of this broke, everybody was holding their breath waiting to find out whether this was a hit and whether or not this was going to lead to some sort of eruption in Zimbabwe. So, I think that it was probably an accident.
COX: Well, it will have some reverberation, will it not, on the power-sharing agreement whether it was an accident or even not accident, would you say?
Mr. FLETCHER: Oh, certainly if it was hit it would definitely - or an attempted assassination, it would certainly throw everything up in the air. If it was an accident as Tsvangirai is saying then while many people maybe skeptical, they'll probably proceed along an attempt to make this work. Now, I wanted to just add one of the thing here, Tony, which is that the opposition within Zimbabwe, not just the MDC, I'm not just - I'm talking about the broader opposition, is not unanimous in supporting this power-sharing arrangement. There are various forces that have been silent and I think that part of what's going on is that there's a great deal of skepticism as to whether President Mugabe will in fact follow through on all of his commitments or whether this will be deep sixed. And so, many people including in Zimbabwe are waiting cautiously.
COX: You know, it's interesting you should mention that. We have to bring this to a close. We have heard, though about the ruling party, the ZANU-PF party being members of that, being opposed to the power sharing. I had not heard really about the members of Tsvangirai's party being opposed to it as well.
Mr. FLETCHER: It's not so much members of the MDC. There's other opposition formations there. There are independent organizations, there are unions, there are various NGOs that have been deeply opposed to the policies of the Mugabe administration. And frankly, what I'm picking is that they're skeptical that President Mugabe really wants to follow through and they worry that is a trap. So, you have for various reasons, very different reasons, people in ZANU-PF that may not want this to succeed, largely because they think that they can smash the MDC, and others that are in the opposition beyond the MDC that are more skeptical that the intention of Mugabe is a sincere one.
COX: It is certainly a part of the world worth keeping our eye on very closely. Bill, thank you very much as always.
Mr. FLETCHER: My pleasure. Thank you.
COX: Bill Fletcher is a senior scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies and the former president of TransAfrica Forum. He is also the co-author of "Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social Justice." He joined us from our Washington D.C. headquarters.
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