July 18, 2008 (LPAC)--Leaders of the African Union and Arab countries are reacting strongly to the potential implications of the ICC prosecution of Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir. Tanzanian Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Membe, speaking July 14 on behalf of his president, Jakaya Kikwete, who chairs the African Union, told Reuters, "We are asking ICC to re-examine its decision," adding that it was "not the right time" to prosecute Bashir. "If you arrest al-Bashir, you will create a leadership vacuum in Sudan. The outcome could be equal to that in Iraq," he said. AU headquarters in Addis Ababa reported that it was holding consultations and was sending a top official to Khartoum.

In Sudan itself, the National Assembly, in emergency session July 16, unanimously passed a resolution supportig the government's rejection of the jurisdiction of the ICC and affirming that the prosecution is acting contrary to international law. Demonstrations supporting the government are taking place in Khartoum and elsewhere in the North. But news reports indicate satisfaction or even rejoicing over the prosecution in Southern Sudan and Darfur; a detailed reading is not yet available.

Egypt's Shura Council (upper house) July 16 called on the UN Security Council to ask the ICC to stop the prosecution. The Shura Council said the African Union and the Arab League should work together to resolve the conflict in Darfur. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had warned UN General Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, in talks in Paris July 14, that the prosecution would cause peace talks with the Darfur rebels to collapse.

Across the Arab world, from Algeria to Yemen, there has been a strong reaction against the ICC prosecution. In the Bahraini parliament, for example, the conservative al-Asala bloc on July 16 urger all Arab leaders to support Bashir against the hidden agenda behind the prosecution.