AU Head Mugabe Says International Court Unwelcome In Africa

Zimbabwe president, and chair of the African Unity Summit, Robert Mugabe, addresses delegates at the end of the 25th AU Summit in Johannesburg, Monday June 15, 2015. (AP Photo/Shiraaz Mohamed)

Zimbabwean leader and African Union chairman Robert Mugabe on Tuesday harshly criticized the International Criminal Court after Sudan's president dodged an international arrest order by leaving early from a meeting of the continent's leaders in South Africa, a news agency reported.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir arrived in Khartoum, Sudan, on Monday from South Africa, where a court instructed that he be arrested, but after his plane had left with him aboard. Al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes allegations linked to the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.

The African News Agency, which is based in South Africa, quoted Mugabe as saying at the late-night close of an African Union summit in Johannesburg that the International Criminal Court is not wanted in Africa.

AP report continues:
"This is not the headquarters of the ICC; we don't want it in this region at all," said Mugabe, who is chairing the 54-member African Union for one year. "There is a view that we should withdraw from the ICC. Unfortunately, the treaty that set up the court was not signed by the AU, but by individual countries."

South Africa is a signatory to the statute that set up the international court. But some African leaders say the court has unfairly targeted African heads of state and the African Union said delegates to the summit in Johannesburg had immunity.

According to Mugabe, South African President Jacob Zuma said "he would not allow" police to arrest al-Bashir, the African News Agency reported.

A spokesman for Zuma's office referred questions about al-Bashir to government spokeswoman Phumla Williams. Williams was not immediately available on Tuesday, a national holiday in South Africa.

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the African Union's chief executive, said al-Bashir was a regular presence at AU summits "anywhere in the continent."

James Stewart, deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, said South Africa had been legally obligated to detain al-Bashir for trial in The Hague.