A WorldPublicOpinion.org poll of seven majority-Muslim and African nations finds that, contrary to the position of their governments, publics in four nations approve of the indictment of Sudanese President Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, one is divided and two are opposed.The International Criminal Court indicted Bashir and put out an arrest warrant in March 2009. The Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Arab League and the African Union have all passed resolutions denouncing the indictment. Moreover last week the African Union declared that its members will refuse to cooperate in enforcement. All of the nations polled as part of this study are members of one or more of these organizations.
However, large majorities approve of the ICC indictment in Kenya (77%) and Nigeria (71%), as does a modest majority in Turkey (51% with 22% disapproving), and a plurality in Pakistan (39% with 32% disapproving).
"This suggests that leaders of some majority-Muslim and African nations, in denouncing the indictment of President Bashir, are out of step with their people," comments Steven Kull, director of WorldPublicOpinion.org.
In two nations a majority disapproves of the indictment: the Palestinian territories (70% with 25% approving) and Egypt (52%, with 47% approving). Iraqis are evenly divided (35% approve, 37% disapprove).
The poll of the seven nations (Egypt, Turkey, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Iraq, and the Palestinian territories) was conducted between April 25 and June 6, 2009 with a total of 6,055 respondents. The margin of error for each nation ranges from +/- 3 to 4.5 percentage points.
Respondents were also asked whether they would support the UN bringing in food and aid if those in refugee camps started dying of hunger and exposure after the expulsion of aid organizations (even against the will of Sudan's government), and about their confidence in Bashir to do the right thing regarding world affairs.
Source: Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland
