ICC summons South Africa over Bashir

Sudanese President Omar al Bashir at a State function in Uganda. African Union leaders have consistently refused to enforce an ICC arrest warrant against the Sudanese leader. FILE PHOTO | MORGAN MBABAZI 

By PETER DUBE, AFRICA REVIEW

In Summary

• President Bashir is wanted by the ICC for crimes against humanity, genocide, war crimes and murder committed in Darfur.
• Southern Africa Litigation Centre executive director Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh said facts show that South Africa flouted obligations under the Rome Statute by actively facilitating President Bashir’s escape.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has invited the South African government next Friday to account for failing to arrest Sudan President Omar Al Bashir when he attended an African Union Summit in the country in June 2015.

The ICC had issued two arrest warrants for President Bashir, but Pretoria let him leave the country.

President Bashir is wanted by the ICC for crimes against humanity, genocide, war crimes and murder committed in Darfur.

“Next Friday, April 7, 2017, South Africa will appear before the Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to argue why the Court should not make a finding of non-compliance against the country for its failure to arrest President Omar Al Bashir when he attended an African Union Summit in South Africa in June 2015,” the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) said in a statement on Thursday.

The SALC explained that the South African government will make written and oral submissions at the hearing.

The ICC will then decide whether Pretoria failed to comply with its obligation under the Rome Statute by not arresting and surrendering President Bashir to them.

READ: South Africa to appear at ICC in April over Sudan's Bashir

SALC executive director Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh said facts show that South Africa flouted these obligations by actively facilitating President Bashir’s escape.

She said its submissions will also show how various government departments appear to have colluded to facilitate the departure of Al Bashir from South Africa.

“Had these ministers wanted to ensure compliance with the interim court order, which sought to prevent Bashir’s departure while the matter was being heard, they could have taken steps to inform their officials, in whose care the Sudanese delegation was entrusted,” said Ms Ramjathan-Keogh.

South Africa was in the process of pulling out of the ICC but had that decision revoked by the Pretoria High Court.

READ: South Africa formally revokes ICC withdrawal

Justice Minister Michael Masutha announced earlier in the year that the country had initiated the process of withdrawing from the ICC last year in October. He said, at the time, the South African government felt the ICC undermined its sovereignty and had previously shown bias against African nations.

The Pretoria High Court last month declared that government's notice of withdrawal was “unconstitutional and invalid.”