Africa’s grandmaster of autocratic imagery must stay away from Kenya

By Barrack Muluka

Sudanese President Omar Ahmed Hassan Al Bashir is Africa’s grandmaster of autocratic imagery. Martin Meredith recalls his oath of office in 1989.

In the volume The State of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence, Meredith says, "Shortly after seizing power, General Bashir addressed a rally, holding a copy of the Koran in one hand and a Kalashnikov in the other."

This was a statement of the kind of regime he proposed to preside over.

To put things beyond doubt, he declared, "I vow here before you to purge from our ranks the renegades, the hirelings, the enemies of the people and the enemies of the armed forces."

This was the beginning of what has been essentially an Islamist dictatorship. Over the past 22 years, Bashir has presided over one of the most horrific regimes anywhere in the world.

In less than one year – between 2003 and 2004 – Khartoum’s activities in Darfur were atrocious to the extent that US Secretary of State, Collin Powell, declared genocide and war crimes had been committed in Darfur.

Bashir’s bloody regime has been aiding Arabic Baggara through their military wing – the Janjaweed – to decimate the African Fur, Massaleit and Zaghawa over pastures.

United Nation’s sources indicate close to 500,000 people were killed in the first two years of the war. The figures trebled over the next two years.

It is estimated at least 100,000 have since died annually, either as a result of direct war action or out of attendant difficulties. Over 2.5 million people have been internally displaced while some 250,000 litter refugee camps in Eastern Chad.

Human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Africa Watch, have accused the Khartoum Government of suppressing evidence on atrocities by jailing witnesses and even killing others.

Khartoum has also tampered with mass graves to make forensic evidence of atrocities difficult.

Journalists are denied visas to Sudan.

The UN Resolution 1,706 of August 2007 voted to have some 20,600 UN troops supplant or supplement 7,000 African Union troops in the country.

Khartoum objected vehemently. Bashir said any such troops stepping on Sudanese soil would be treated as invading hostile troops.

He launched a major military offensive in Darfur a day after Resolution 1,706. The UN troops were never deployed.

Instead, African leaders have been playing footsie with Al Bashir to the extent that he behaves like a spoilt child, throwing threatening tantrums at just about anybody and sounding ultimatums at everybody.

This is the man Kenyan authorities have gone to bed with, for whatever reasons.

Now even if the night runner is your best friend, you have a duty to turn him over to society.

But even if you do not wish to turn him over, you do not rub him into people’s faces.

You do not poke your fingers into people’s noses, daring them to do anything against your night runner. Yet this is what the Kenya government has been doing, dancing in broad daylight with a horrendous night runner.

In another show of autocratic symbolism, Bashir publicly demonstrated to Kenyan authorities what they should do about the rule of law.

On the day we promulgated our new Constitution last August, the authorities used Bashir as a balloon of impunity.

Knowing very well that the man was a fugitive, on the run from global law, the Kibaki-Raila administration nonetheless invited him to the promulgation ceremony.

In an ironic twist of events, balloons that the notables in Uhuru Park attempted to float in the air would not rise.

They contained the wrong gas. Bashir was quick to show them how to deal with such situations. Hit them with a big stick. Still the balloons would not float.

Now this is where Kenya finds itself with Sudan.

The man who would force ballons of impunity to fly, using a huge stick, has sounded a two-week ultimatum to his Kenyan friends, President Kibaki and Premier Raila Odinga.

He has ordered them to overturn a court decision, not by following the law but by using a big stick, "The way I demonstrated to you with my big stick at the promulgation." For, Bashir told Foreign Affairs Minister, Moses Wetangula, that he does not want to hear about things like "appeals in court".

He wants Kibaki and Raila to trample on the order by Judge Nicholas Ombija for his arrest, should he ever come to Kenya.

Such is the price you pay for meddling with characters who take their vows of office holding holy books in one hand and lethal weapons in the other hand.

The Government has put itself in a spot with this village tyrant. So what will they do now? A man who does the kind of things Bashir has done in South Sudan and in Darfur will not hesitate to roll out the sinister agenda he has lined up for Kenya, in the event that Kibaki and Raila do not dance to his whims.

Within the next seven days, he could actually expel all Kenyans in Sudan, ban all Kenya bound aeroplanes from overflying Sudanese airspace, ban Kenyan exports and a lot more.

Kenya can of course heighten the crisis by giving back like for like. Any airline whose planes land in Khartoum can be denied Kenyan airspace.

Sudanese citizens can be bundled out, and the like. This is what they mean when they say that you do not argue with a fool, for people will not notice the difference. But it is also true that when you are in tango with a fool, it is impossible for people to tell the difference.

When you mess around with a night runner, it is impossible to tell the difference.

The solidarity of African leadership over the past five decades has been a conspiracy against the people.

Such conspiracy is unsustainable in today’s world. Mzee Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila can best serve their friendship with General Bashir by advising him to stay away from Kenya.

The writer is a publishing editor and media consultant