Sudanese president flies out of South Africa in defiance of ruling by judge
SUDANESE President Omar al-Bashir has left South Africa, defying a Pretoria court order for him to remain in the country until it ruled on an application for his arrest.
Mr Bashir, who was attending an African Union (AU) summit in South Africa, has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Pretoria High Court was in session on Monday to decide on a petition by the Southern African Litigation Centre, a rights group that wanted to force South African President Jacob Zuma’s government to arrest Mr Bashir and hand him over to the ICC. South Africa is an ICC signatory and therefore obliged to implement arrest warrants.
However, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) accused the Hague-based court of being biased against Africans and said it was “no longer useful”.
Pretoria’s furious response and its decision to allow Mr Bashir to leave is affirmation of its shifting diplomatic priorities with Africa’s interests trumping those of the West.
Judge Hans Fabricius on Sunday barred Mr Bashir from leaving South Africa until he had made a decision on the application and had asked the government to inform all ports of exit not to allow the veteran Sudanese leader to leave.
However, Sudan’s State Minister Yasser Youssef said Mr Bashir had left South Africa.
Mr Zuma’s government had given immunity to Mr Bashir and all other delegates attending the AU summit.
The ICC issued arrest warrants for Mr Bashir in 2009 and 2010, accusing him of masterminding genocide and other atrocities in his campaign to crush a revolt in the Darfur region. He has long rejected the cour t’s authority.
The conflict in Darfur has killed as many as 300,000 people and displaced two million, the UN says.
The ICC, the US and the UN have criticised Pretoria for rolling out the red carpet for Mr Bashir.
“The International Criminal Court’s warrant for the arrest of President al-Bashir on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes is a matter I take extremely seriously,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.