Commentary on Closed Session of Closing Session

12h24: acp group should work towards lasting peace in Sudan (nuhue)

JAMAICA: unstinting support of all acp states for peace efforts in Sudan. Has a unwavering commitment to people of Sudan. Should not confuse matters of Sudan to matters over ICC, which jamaica subscribes to.

NIGERIA: Concerns over paragraph five. especially paragraph three on non-interference of states. for a distinguished body like this, language should not be tautaologous and language be overkilled.

who says that tomw we might not consider sanctions to bring pressure to bear on level of intl behaviour. want paragraph five deleted.

TUVATU? section two on sustainable devt. change be made...(wording on climate change).

CUBA: sorry, no access to headphones.

SUDAN: parag number 7. noted statements by Jamaica. statement consistent with arab league and african union. what is important is peace process in sudan. the indictment of Bashir could create problems. Necessary to keep paragraph and add other[which one?] one...

KENYA: security, peace and justice should not be overlooked. icc indictment will frustrate regional peace. clause seven should start as it is.

BENIN: paragraph 23: propose to add ..want to add another paragraph on AID EFFECTIVENESS...

ZIMBABWE: paragraph five and seven....

????-ask for suspension of ICC arrest warrant

SOUTH AFRICA retain parags five and seven. the use of sanctions. must as an act of solidarity, retin parag five. all potential parties in sudanese conflict...

ERITREA: express solidarity. retain paragraphs five and seven as is.

12h59 out of here. plenty deliberations over Sudan. And EPAs?

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The Strange Case of the Elusive President

Fact is: it is not so strange, and the Sudanese president as not as elusive as the title might suggest. Who can blame me, though, when I see someone reading a GHANAWEB article with bold headline "Al-Bashir Skips Town", and I ask for a copy?

As I freeze my behind in this excessively-cool air-conditioned PRESS CENTRE located in a tent adjacent to the press conference on the final day of the ongoing Sixth Session of the Brussels-based ACP Group, clearly, someone is feeling the heat!

It appears the only reason why Bashir was able to make his speech yesterday on Ghanaian soil has everything to do with the fact that the Sudanese president was assured by Ghanaian authorities that he would not be arrested, despite the fact that he was on the soil of an INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT county.

I am suddenly reminded of Charles Taylor who was arrested by Nigerian authorities in 2006, not too far from Cameroun. It coincided with the witnessing by Ghanaians of the country's first solar eclipse in many decades.

Even the stars might have been mad at his blaze of gory in his home country of Liberia!

In that instance, too, Ghanaian authorities refused to arrest the man when he came to Ghana.

Do you smell a pattern of pusillanimity here, or simply a desire to maintain positive diplomatic relations-- something the late former Foreign Secretary of the UK Robin Cook called "constructive engagement"...

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6th ACP Summit Diary: Day One

This was how it all started:a quiet room that would not quite be filled to capacity, but would resonate with the francophone and anglophone voices, chiming along with Arab-looking faces, glum, bright, broad-smile, contemplative faces.

That most of the people in the room were in smart suits, and mostly men only went to remind one of the gender equality challenges that exist--note that the theme of the Sixth ACP summit is "Promoting Human Security and Development"--as well as the challenge on keeping one's time. I don't want to believe that if the world were run by Africans, we would all be late! Ghanaman time (gmt) is bad enough; I do not want Africa Man Time!

The Council of Ministers was supposed to start at 9h00. It is some two minutes to 10! Although I have had the opportunity to do some mobile blogging, I would have preferred we start on time so that we finish accordingly. Still, it has given me the opportunity to observe and witness sycophancy and deference at work.

Sycophancy as exemplified by posse of delegates hovering around a plenipotentiary who might know next-to-nothing about the meeting, but have the lucky break of being a career diplomat who has happened to pull strings to become ambassador; and deference as evidenced by men and women dressed in sharp suits giving muted bows to passing plenipotentiaries.

If I have given the impression that I am this side short of cynical about this whole process, you would not be far off the mark! After all, I have heard enough of the anecdotes, and seen enough--both first-hand and otherwise--to convince me that gatherings like these are not just a dull affair, but ones that do little to advance things considerably.

Having said all that, I am paradoxically excited to be in here to observe and witness a bunch of diplomats read speeches and pay lip-service to promoting human security and development when a large number of the

leaders of the 77 ACP countries chose to perpetuate human insecurity a liberalisation of everything that ineluctably produces poor development. If that were not the case, Sudan would be the last country to have been given face here.

And what of Mauritania, a country that the AU has suspended I believe on account of staging a coup?

A quick stroll down reveals two delegates from Mauritania are here.

Enter formalities.


Everyone is seated at 10h18. I see Mr.Bradley, husband of an official of a United Nations University - run programme in Brugges, Belgium, looking smart, and, erm, very assistant to the Secretary-general of the ACP-like.

He hasn't changed one bit from last I saw him in the <a href="http://www.acpsec.org">ACP building</a> four years ago...

languages are: English, French, Arabic...
(council of minsters giving one minute silence to Mwanawasa, victims of cyclone of oregon, and to Baah-Wiredu)

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