On the third day of the India-Africa Forum Summit, political disagreement over the United States became evident between India and Sudan, one of the major emerging energy suppliers for India. While India focused on the commercial aspect of India-Africa ties, Sudan forcefully demanded that the summit should seek to change the world order.
In the official briefings, the Ministry of External Affairs highlighted the trade talks taking place between leaders of India and several African countries during the summit, but Sudan’s Foreign Minister told The Hindu that his country wanted to discuss Africa’s rightful place in the changed United Nations Security Council and also wanted to highlight how American domination of world affairs was proving to be counter-productive.
“We believe that the final statement of the summit should incorporate how an entire continent has been brushed away from the U.N. Security Council due to old power structure of the world order,” said Ibrahim A. Ghandour, Foreign Minister of Sudan, while addressing the media.
Sudan’s President Omar Al Bashir, who was scheduled to land in Delhi on Wednesday evening, is facing an arrest warrant from the International Court of Justice in Rome, and Sudan has interpreted the arrest warrant as a sign of Western conspiracy against its self-driven economic policies. “American actions and sanctions against Sudan have no foundation. Unilateral sanctions from the U.S. need to end,” said Prof. Ghandour. MEA officials, however, refused to acknowledge that some of the summit participants were demanding an end to American domination over the world.
Sudan has also criticised the global human rights campaign against President Al Bashir, suggesting that the campaign was motivated and was a facade for Western interests. India has faced considerable pressure for the last few months to support and act on the ICC’s arrest warrant against Al Bashir.
A few days before the summit began, Aakar Patel, executive director of Amnesty International India, said: “Omar al-Bashir stands accused of some of the worst crimes imaginable, including complicity in the killing and torture of thousands of people.”
The human rights campaign has obviously hardened Sudan’s anti-colonial slogans.
Expressing ambitious Sudanese position on several issues of global importance, Prof. Ghandour said that the world was fast changing, and Sudan, with a stable government, would play an active role all the way from the coast of Red Sea to the Atlantic Ocean.
“India is an important buyer of energy from Sudan. Now, we want to diversify the relationship with India and spread it to other areas like security which is crumbling all around due to mishandling,” said Prof. Ghandour who said that India should disregard the old power structure of the world and push harder to get a share of the African market.
Talks with African leaders
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral talks with heads of several African nations during which U.N. reforms, combating challenge of terrorism and boosting trade and investment, particularly in the oil and gas sector, figured prominently.
The African leaders appreciated India’s development projects in their continent. In his meeting, South African President Jacob Zuma strongly called for reform of the global governance system and said the U.N. structure, which was set up after the Second World War, could not remain relevant in 21st Century.
The Prime Minister also met Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, and Chairman of the African Union. Both the leaders discussed issues of common interest, including U.N. reforms and the threat of terrorism.
