Human rights organisation; Amnesty International has called on the Nigerian government to arrest Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir if he honours his invitation to come to Abuja for an African Union meeting on October 29.
Amnesty International in a release late yesterday stated that “the Nigerian President has issued an invitation to the Sudanese president to attend the African Union Peace and Security Council meeting on Thursday, 29 October 2009 in the nation’s capital Abuja.”
Former South African president Thabo Mbeki is expected to present a report on the situation in Darfur at the meeting.
President al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity and an arrest warrant was issued on him on March 4, 2009 by the ICC prosecutor.
The Human right organisation claims that the invitation which is ‘still-secret’ was gotten from several reliable sources and that the Nigerian President, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, has given assurance that President al-Bashir will not be arrested if he comes to Nigeria.
Nigeria as a signatory to the treaty that established the ICC is obliged to arrest and surrender anyone named in an arrest warrant by the court.
Efforts by NEXT to get the Presidency to react to the issue were futile as the President’s spokesperson Segun Adeniyi refused to pick phone calls and reply text messages sent to him.
However reliable diplomatic sources in Abuja said it appears what the government is doing is to eat its cake and have it by not breaking ranks with the AU yet seeking to fulfil international obligation. “My reasoning is that government is merely inviting Sudan as a country with a veiled message that someone higher in the Sudanese government but not Bashir would be the welcomed guest,” said the source. “As one of the main issue to be discussed will be on Darfur.”
The Sudanese President failed to honour the Ugandan President invitation to attend yesterday’s AU summit on refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons in Kampala. Amnesty International claims that this was as a result of protest from non-governmental organisations across the globe against the invitation.
Nigeria stands to face punitive measures from the United Nations security council if it fails to arrest the Sudanese President on arrival because the Rome stature that established the ICC in Article 87 (7) provides that “where a State Party fails to comply with a request to cooperate by the Court contrary to the provisions of this Statute, thereby preventing the Court from exercising its functions and powers under this Statute, the Court may make a finding to that effect and..., where the Security Council referred the matter to the Court, to the Security Council.
Despite the chances of being arrested on any foreign trips, President al-Bashir had made seven international trips since March. He has visited Eritrea, Egypt, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe since the arrest warrant was issued but none of them are signatories to the ICC treaty and are not compelled to arrest him.
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