SPLM-N rebels call on South African gov’t to arrest Sudan’s Bashir

June 14, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North which has close relations with the ruling African National Congress (ANC) urged the South African authorities to arrest the Sudanese president Omer al-Bashir who is in Pretoria to attend an African Union summit.

Bashir arrived in Pertoria Saturday, defying two arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against him for war crimes and genocide in Darfur region in March 2009 and July 2010.

Immediately after his arrival in Pretoria, the ICC urged South African government to arrest Bashir in ligne with the founding act of the court , Rome Statute, and threatened to report the matter to the tribal’s assembly of states and the UN Security Council.

“South Africa is one of the Rome Statute signatories and is bound to arrest those who are wanted by the international justice,” said the SPLM-N secretary general Yasir Arman in a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Saturday.

Arman further said that Bashir’s visit poses a challenge for the independent judiciary of South Africa and previous statements by the Government of South Africa as well as it undermines “the history and the legacy of its people and the struggle of the African National Congress (ANC) against racism and war crimes”.

The rebel leader was alluding to statements by South African president Jacob Zuma. Following his elections in May 2009 Zuma said if Bashir was to ever set foot inside South Africa he would order him arrested.

An African Union (AU) summit held in Libya in July 2009 adopted a resolution that they shall not cooperate with the ICC in executing the warrant.

“We support the calls for the arrest of General al-Bashir and handing him to the international justice,” he further said, stressing that the Sudanese president is continuing targeting civilians in Sudan.

The SPLM-N rebels who fight against the Sudanese army since 2011 in the South Korodfan and Blue Nile states accuse the Sudanese army of targeting civilians in the rebel areas as part of a scorched earth policy.

SPLM-N spokesperson Arnu Ngutulu Lodi on Staurdfay said that the Sudanese army bombarded several areas inhabited in the troubled South Kordofan state.

Two Antinov and four helicopters gunship on 12 June dropped 20 bombs into Wad-Abuk town, caused casualties among the residents. Furthermore, they targeted cattle-keepers around the town where several herders, and dozens of cattle were killed, Lodi said.

Human rights groups and activists called on the South African authorities to handle the Sudanese president to the international justice warning that allowing him to attending the summit and return to his country will tarnish the image of the country.

“Allowing President al-Bashir into South Africa without arresting him would be a major stain on South Africa’s reputation on promoting justice for grave crimes,” said Elise Keppler, acting international justice director at Human Rights Watch.

“South Africa’s legal obligations as an ICC member mean cooperating in al-Bashir’s arrest, not in his travel plans,” Keppler further said.

(ST)