Ethiopian Review

KHARTOUM — The Sudanese government lauded the African Union (AU) resolution granting immunity to president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir from arrest in the continent.

The AU summit concluded in Libya this week said that the African members of International Criminal Court (ICC) will not execute the outstanding arrest arrant against Bashir issued last March.

Bashir is accused by the court of committing war crimes in the Western region of Darfur since 2003.

The Libyan backed clause in the resolution overcame resistance from some countries including Ghana, Botswana and Chad, all of which are ICC members.

The Rome Statute which forms the basis of the ICC puts legal obligation on the members states for the apprehension of individuals wanted by the court if he arrives in their territories.

The Sudanese foreign minister spokesperson Ali Al-Sadiq said that Bashir is now free to travel to any African country without fear of arrest.

This year Botswana and South Africa have publicly announced that they will apprehend the Sudanese head of state if he visits. However Djibouti and Comoros Island announced that they will not honor their obligations under the Rome Statute.

But Al-Sadiq suggested that South Africa’s stance has changed.

“Maybe at one point, the new South African government expressed some negative views … As South Africa was part of the decision at Sirte, it implies that this means he would be able to travel there” Al-Sadiq said.

“As far as we are concerned, whenever there are meetings in the African continent, or in Arab countries, he will go there,” he added.

The legal aspects of the decision at the Sirte summit are unclear. International treaties ratified by a state are binding in whole unless it decides to withdraw from it altogether.

Al-Sadiq said he thought the AU decisions are binding to its members, so Bashir would not have to wait for further approval from the parliaments of each state.

The London based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat quoted the South African president Jacob Zuma as saying that the African stance on the issue did not change against the ICC adding that peace be achieved in Darfur before thinking about reaching a decision on Bashir.

Darfur rebels and human rights organizations condemned the decision saying it grants impunity to a war indicted individual.

In 2004 the UNSC formed a UN commission of inquiry to look into Darfur abuses headed by former President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Italian Antonio Cassese.

The five-member commission included three African figures from Ghana, South Africa and Egypt.

The commission concluded that the government did not pursue a policy of genocide in the Darfur region but that Khartoum and government-sponsored Arab militias known as the Janjaweed engaged in “widespread and systematic” abuse that may constitute crimes against humanity.

They further said that Sudanese judiciary is “is unable or unwilling” to prosecute those crimes and thus recommended referring the situation to the ICC.

The UNSC issued resolution 1593 under chapter VII in March 2005 referring the situation in Darfur to the ICC. At the time Tanzania and Benin voted in support of the resolution while Algeria abstained.

- Sudan Tribune