A South African court on Sunday issued a temporary ban on Sudanese<\/p>\n
President Omar al-Bashir leaving the country after the International
\nCriminal Court called for him to be arrested at a summit in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n
Bashir, who is wanted over alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and
\ngenocide in the Darfur conflict, mostly travels to countries that have not
\njoined the ICC, but South Africa is a signatory of the court\u2019s statutes.<\/p>\n
The Pretoria High Court said in a statement it was \u201ccompelling respondents
\nto prevent President Omar Al-Bashir from the leaving the country until an
\norder is made in this court\u201d.<\/p>\n
The hearing is set to take place later Sunday, the opening day of the
\nAfrican Union summit.<\/p>\n
The ruling came after the Southern African Litigation Centre, a legal
\nrights group, launched an urgent court application to force the
\nauthorities to arrest Bashir.<\/p>\n
Bashir joined a group photograph of leaders at the summit despite the
\ncalls for his arrest.<\/p>\n
Wearing a blue suit, he stood in the front row for the photograph along
\nwith South African host President Jacob Zuma and Zimbabwe\u2019s President
\nRobert Mugabe, who is the chair of the 54-member group.<\/p>\n
Mugabe has previously urged African leaders to pull out of the ICC, which
\ncritics accuse of targeting Africa.<\/p>\n
The ICC said in a statement from its headquarters in The Hague that it
\n\u201ccalls on South Africa\u2026 to spare no effort in ensuring the execution of
\nthe arrest warrants\u201d against Bashir.<\/p>\n
It said South Africa diplomats had been pressed last month to arrest
\nBashir if he attended the summit, but that they replied they faced
\n\u201ccompeting obligations\u201d over the issue.<\/p>\n
Bashir, 71, seized power in Sudan in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989.
\n\u201cSouth Africa has an obligation to arrest him,\u201d Johannesburg-based rights
\nlawyer Gabriel Shumba told AFP.<\/p>\n
\u201cFailure to do so puts them in the same bracket as other African regimes
\nwho have no respect for human rights. It\u2019s actually a test for South
\nAfrica.\u201d
\nDarfur erupted into conflict in 2003 when insurgents mounted a campaign
\nagainst Bashir\u2019s government, complaining their region was politically and
\neconomically marginalised.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u2018Grave crimes\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n
More than 300,000 people have been killed in the conflict and fighting has
\nforced some 2.5 million people to flee their homes, the United Nations
\nsays.
\nKhartoum, however, disputes the figures, estimating the death toll at no
\nmore than 10,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cAllowing President al-Bashir into South Africa without arresting him
\nwould be a major stain on South Africa\u2019s reputation for promoting justice
\nfor grave crimes,\u201d said Elise Keppler of Human Rights Watch.<\/p>\n
\u201cSouth Africa\u2019s legal obligations as an ICC member mean cooperating in
\nal-Bashir\u2019s arrest, not in his travel plans.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two days of discussions among the member states had been set to focus
\non the political unrest in Burundi and the migration crisis across the
\ncontinent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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