Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir Barred From Leaving South Africa

 

President of the Congo Republic Denis Sassou Nguesso (right) looks on as Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is greeted by Zimabwean President Robert Mugabe at the African Union summit in Johannesburg. Photo: Siphiwe Sibeko; Image source: smh.com

South Africa's High Court has barred Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir from leaving the country, with the court to return today to debate whether or not the government should order his arrest him on war crimes charges.

Judge Hans Fabricius made the ruling at a hearing in Pretoria on Sunday after the Southern Africa Litigation Centre, which promotes human rights, had filed a court application to overturn a government decision to grant immunity to all delegates attending an African Union summit that began in Johannesburg on Sunday.

Immigration officials must now prevent Mr Bashir from leaving South Africa, Judge Fabricius said.

Bloomberg report continues:

Mr Bashir, who has ruled Sudan for 25 years, has been indicted twice by the International Criminal Court for alleged atrocities in the western region of Darfur. South Africa is a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the ICC.

South Africa's ruling African National Congress said on its Twitter account on Sunday that it "holds the view that the International Criminal Court is no longer useful for the purposes for which it was intended".

South African President Jacob Zuma's government will seek to avoid the political complications that would stem from detaining Mr Bashir, according to Shadrack Gutto, a law professor at the University of South Africa.

Darfur insurgency

"I don't see the government arresting him," Mr Gutto said by phone from Pretoria. "The matter will go on appeal and by the time it is resolved, he will have left the country."

Clayson Monyela, a spokesman for South Africa's Department of International Relations, didn't respond to telephone calls or messages seeking comment.

As many as 300,000 people have died during an insurgency in Darfur that began in 2003, according to United Nations estimates. The ICC in The Hague indicted Mr Bashir in 2009 and 2010.

South Africa should "spare no effort" in seeking to arrest the president, Sidiki Kaba, head of the Assembly of States to the Rome Statute of the ICC, said Saturday in a statement on the court's website.

Amnesty International's research and advocacy director for Africa, Netsanet Belay, described Mr Bashir is "a fugitive from justice".

Election victory

African Union Commission Chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, in a speech at the opening of the summit Sunday, congratulated Mr Bashir and other leaders for winning elections.

Mr Bashir was re-elected in an April vote that the main opposition parties boycotted, and he was sworn in earlier this month for another five-year term.

Some AU members that helped to create the Rome Statute are failing to enforce the measure, according to Jakkie Cilliers, executive director at the Institute for Security Studies.

"A number of African countries were very active in the development of the whole Rome Statute, including South Africa," he said by phone from Pretoria.

"On the one hand, the African Union says nobody will be able to escape being held accountable. But on the other hand, when the ICC – which the AU's member states helped create – acts, they step back."

Source: Bloomberg