The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Omar Hassan al-Bashir

  • S/Africa defends decision to ignore ICC’s Bashir arrest warrant

    South Africa told the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday that it believed it was under no obligation to arrest Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir during a visit two years ago even though he was subject to an ICC arrest warrant.

    The ICC warrant did not outweigh a South African law that grants sitting heads of state immunity from prosecution, South African legal representative Dire Tladi told judges at a hearing to discuss Pretoria’s failure to arrest al-Bashir in 2015.

    “There is no duty under international law and the Rome Statute to arrest a serving head of state of a non-state-party such as Omar al-Bashir,” Tladi argued.

    The row between South Africa and the ICC over its failure to arrest al-Bashir, who is accused of genocide and war crimes, led to Pretoria’s notifying the United Nations last year that it would withdraw from the court.

    Earlier in January, a South African court blocked the move over procedural issues, but the government has said it will push ahead with the withdrawal.

    Al-Bashir denies the charges against him.

    Though Sudan is not a member of the ICC, the court has jurisdiction by virtue of a 2005 UN Security Council resolution referring the conflict to the Hague-based permanent war crimes court.

    Friday’s hearing was called so that the court can gather information on whether it should report South Africa either to the ICC’s governing body, the Assembly of State Parties, or to the UN Security Council for non-compliance with the court.

    NAN recalls that on Sept. 7, 2015, judges at the ICC asked South African authorities to explain why they failed to arrest al-Bashir in June when he attended a conference.

    Bashir, accused of masterminding genocide in Darfur, was able to leave an African Union summit in South Africa and fly home, in defiance of a ruling by a South African court ordering his detention under a warrant from the ICC.

    NAN recalls that South Africa, a member of the ICC, is obliged to enforce warrants from the Hague-based tribunal.

    NAN reports that the court said in cases where a member of the ICC fails to cooperate, the court may refer the matter to either the Assembly of States Parties, the ICC’s governing body, or the UN Security Council, which established the court and has the power to impose sanctions.

    President Jacob Zuma has defended the decision to let Bashir leave the country, saying they wanted leader had immunity as a guest of the African Union.

     

  • Sudan announces one-month ceasefire extension

    Sudan announces one-month ceasefire extension

    Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has announced a one-month extension of his unilateral ceasefire in fighting with rebels in the country’s war zones.

    The announcement, in an independence day speech on Saturday, comes after earlier short-term truces in June and October 2016, which were followed by a fall-off in fighting in the southern Blue Nile and Kordofan regions but continued clashes in Darfur.

    The latest outbreak of fighting between the army and rebels in Kordofan and Blue Nile broke out in 2011 when adjacent South Sudan declared independence.

    Conflict in Darfur began in 2003 when mainly non-Arab tribes took up arms against Sudan’s Arab-led government.

    However, talks to secure a lasting ceasefire in Sudan’s three warring regions under a road map for peace collapsed in August.

    In his speech, Bashir said: “We announce an extension of the ceasefire for one month only, except in cases of self-defence.”

    Bashir’s long war against various rebel groups coincides with a severe economic downturn. This year’s budget foresees a growing deficit and slower growth.

    Inflation approaching 20 per cent and government austerity have fuelled growing discontent and rare protests in recent weeks.

    Sudan’s economic problems have been building since the south seceded in 2011, taking with it three-quarters of oil output, the main source of foreign currency and government income.

    At the same time, Bashir is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

  • ICC wants India to hand over al-Bashir

    The International Criminal Court said India should arrest and hand over Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who is wanted on genocide charges and expected to visit New Delhi for a summit this week.

    Bashir is accused of masterminding genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in his campaign to crush a revolt in Sudan’s western Darfur region. The Hague-based tribunal issued warrants for his arrest in 2009 and 2010.

    Along with at least 40 other African leaders, the 71-year-old president is expected to arrive in New Delhi on Wednesday to attend an India-Africa Summit aimed at boosting trade and investment between the two regions, Reuters reported.

    Although India is not an ICC signatory, New Delhi should act as a United Nations Security Council resolution had lifted Bashir’s immunity under international law and urged all states to fully cooperate with the ICC, said the office of ICC Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda.

    “As states ponder over such matters, it is fundamentally important not to forget the victims who deserve justice for the unimaginable atrocities they have suffered,” Bensouda’s office told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by email late on Monday.

    “By arresting and surrendering ICC suspects, India can contribute to the important goal of ending impunity for the world’s worst crimes.”

    Indian officials were not immediately available for comment, but Foreign Ministry spokesman, Vikas Swarup, when asked the country’s position, told local media, “India is fully compliant with its international legal obligations.”

    This is not the first time the ICC has asked a foreign government to arrest and hand over Bashir.

  • Sudan release political prisoners

    Sudan release political prisoners

    Sudan freed seven political prisoners on Tuesday, a day after President Omar Hassan al-Bashir ordered the release of all such detainees.

    The amnesty came after Sudan and South Sudan agreed in March to end hostilities and resume cross-border oil flows after coming close to war a year ago.

    Khartoum had accused its southern neighbour of supporting rebels trying to topple Bashir.

    Seven members of an opposition group were released from Kober prison in Khartoum at dawn on Tuesday, witnesses said.

    They had been held since January after being accused of meeting a group of Sudanese rebels in Uganda who planned to overthrow Bashir.

    Farouk Abu Issa, head of the National Consensus Forces grouping of the main opposition parties, confirmed the release of the seven.

    “We demand that all other political prisoners should be released,” he told Reuters.

    Rights groups have accused the government of holding an unspecified number of dissidents since the security services cracked down on small protests against austerity measures unveiled by Bashir last year.

    In February, a UN human rights expert visiting Sudan said authorities were holding opposition figures and other detainees without trial and denying them urgent medical care.

    Bashir did not say when, and how many, prisoners would be released in his speech to parliament on Monday.

    “I announce today my decision to release all political prisoners,” said the president, in power since 1989.

    “I also renew a commitment to create a climate to hold a national dialogue with the other political forces.”

    Issa called on Bashir to take further measures, including lifting a ban on newspapers which had been critical of the government.

    Sudan’s weak and fractured opposition have tried to bring “Arab Spring”protests to Khartoum, but failed to mobilize mass support.

    Vice President Ali Osman Taha last week invited rebel groups to help prepare a new constitution following the secession of South Sudan in July 2011.

    Khartoum has accused Juba of backing rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-North) which took up arms in two border states around the time of South Sudan’s declaration of independence.

    Rebels of the SPLM-North sided with the south during the civil war with Khartoum that led up to South Sudan’s secession but were left inside Sudan after the partition.