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As Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC), noted:
‘Take no prisoners’ means a crime against humanity or a war crime, because if the prisoner was a combatant it is a war crime and if the pisoner was a civilian it’s a crime against humanity.
For those who may not know, Ahmed Harun is already wanted for crimes against humanity by the ICC because of his actions as Governor of Darfur where he conducted ethnic cleansing and perpetrated what is widely recognized as genocide against the Darfurian people.
Now ethnic cleansing and genocide are taking place in the NubaMountains under Harun’s direction in South Kordofan while the same is threatened in the provinces of Blue Nile, and Abyei. The Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement and Army have for many years been working with the South Sudanese against the government in Khartoum. The people of Nuba, like their Christian friends to the south, would like independence and for that to happen, South Sudan must help.
The ongoing peace negotiations between the governments of Sudan and South Sudan have the potential to force South Sudan to abandon their long time friends in the north and to dramatically worsen the situation in South Kordofan and Blue Nile. President Obama is said to have asked South Sudan’s President, Salva Kiir, to do just that, to distance South Sudan from those fighting against Ahmed Harun’s forces in South Kordofan.
One may assume that the President of the United States is trying to broker a peace that he believes will end the fighting in South Kordofan and ensure the peace between Sudan and South Sudan. He may well believe that this peace would end the fighting in South Kordofan. Yet what are the likely consequences of such a peace for South Kordofan???
Considering the fact that Governor Harun and Sudan’s President Bashir are both wanted by the International Criminal Court for the crime of genocide in Darfur and there is evidence that they are carrying out a very similar plan in the Nuba Mountains, one must question whether or not they are negotiating peace because they would simply like to remove an impediment from their ability to ethnically cleanse the Nuba people and to extend their reign of terror into other provinces as well. If peace comes, South Sudan, the best ally of the Nuba by far, will be unable to help them. We could see an even further deterioration in South Kordofan where women and children are being raped and killed and villages bombed even today. This is not a military conflict. Sudanese troops are massacring civilians there.
If South Sudan cannot help, someone else must. A no fly zone must be implemented and an international force must be ready to step in to prevent genocide otherwise the Nuba people will be left alone to face Harun and his murderous reign.This is not a matter of fighting for independence, it is a struggle for life. We cannot stand idly by.
Turkey's top imam blasted the Saudi grand mufti's call to "destroy all the churches" in the Gulf region, saying that the announcement is in total contradiction to the peaceful teachings of the Muslim religion.
Speaking to Today's Zaman, Mehmet Görmez, head of the Religious Affairs Directorate, said he cannot accept the Islamic religious order --fatwa -- issued by Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Shaikh, adding that the mufti's remarks run contrary to the centuries-old Islamic teachings of tolerance and the sanctity of institutions belonging to other religions.
He emphasized that Islam has always respected religious freedom. "The opinion of the grand mufti also obviously contradicts the agreements that the Prophet of Islam signed with the non-Muslim communities both in Medina and in the region. It also plainly overlooks the right of immunity given by Islam to the holy shrines and temples of other religions on the basis of the rule of law throughout its history," Görmez explained.
Sheikh Abdulaziz reportedly made the controversial statement during a meeting with a delegation from the Kuwait-based Society of the Revival of Islamic Heritage in response to a query about Shariah law concerning the construction of churches in Muslim countries. He issued the fatwa in March, saying that further church building should be banned and existing Christian houses of worship should be destroyed.
Görmez slammed Abdulaziz, stating, "We strongly believe that this declaration has left dark shadows upon the concept of rights and freedoms in Islam that have always been observed on the basis of its sources, and it will not be recorded as an opinion of Islam." He also added, "We, therefore, entirely reject the aforementioned opinion and hope that it will be amended as soon as possible."
Turkey's top Muslim cleric challenged the Saudi grand mufti's assertions on the established principles in Islam. "We believe that the mentioned opinion is evidently against the aims of Islam, especially in a region that witnessed the descent of the Holy Quran and the first application of the Sunnah of the Prophet. It is against the Muslim tradition's established practice of respecting non-Muslims' rights as well," he noted.
