Sudan’s al-Bashir attends Erdogan’s inauguration

July 9, 2018 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir on Monday attended the inauguration ceremony of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.

Erdogan won an absolute majority in the presidential election on June 24 with 52.5% of the vote. His re-election marked Turkey’s transition to an executive presidential system of government.

On Monday, he took the presidential oath of office to become Turkey’s first president under its new system.

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.

Turkey 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)