Sudan’s al-Bashir to attend AU summit in Mauritania
June 29, 2018 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir on Saturday will travel to Nouakchott to participate in the 31st Ordinary Session of the African Union Summit between 1 and 2 July.
The Summit will be held under the theme “Winning the Fight against Corruption: A Sustainable Path to Africa’s Transformation”.
The delegation accompanying President al-Bashir includes Minister of the Presidency Fadl Abdallah Fadl, Foreign Minister El-Dirdeiry Mohamed Ahmed, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Hassan Abdel-Gadir Hilal and Director of the President’s Offices Hatim Hassan Bakhit.
Al-Bashir is under two International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants since 2008 for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed in Darfur.
Mauritania is not a state party to the tribunal of war crimes but has the obligation as a member of the United Nations to cooperate with the court.
Since the issuance of the two arrest warrants, Bashir limited his trips abroad to ICC non-party states but he also travelled to five signatory states including the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Nigeria, Malawi, Djibouti and South Africa.
His trip to South Africa in 2015 drew international attention after he flew out of the country defying a High court order which orders the government to ban his departure until an application calling for his arrest had been heard.
(ST)