I’ll be honest. In the weeks and months following the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant issuance for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, as I went through my daily routine of waking up and checking the news from Sudan, I became increasingly discouraged as I saw the wanted war criminal Bashir gallivanting from Tripoli to Qatar with the support and good blessings of the Arab League and the African Union. As much as I know that the behind-the-scenes diplomatic negotiating going on in Khartoum, Cairo, Washington, and other capitals is more complex than anything one can ascertain from wire stories, there has not been a great deal of analysis of these “inside baseball” dealings in the wake of the arrest warrant issuance in March. An article in this week’s Economist is an up-close look at what exactly is going on “behind Bashir’s defiance.” I certainly agree with the Economist’s analysis that “beneath the surface, things have been less simple, less predictable and less easy for Mr Bashir,” and I’m glad to see this kind of reporting available to the general public.
