Sudan’s Bashir skips South African’s ANC centenary celebrations
January 6, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government announced that president Omer al-Bashir will be unable to attend the celebrations in South Africa of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) 100th anniversary.
Ismail told SMC that Bashir is unable to be present due to his pressing domestic commitments that coincide with the celebrations in South Africa.
Bashir is scheduled to leave for Libya on Saturday for a two-day visit during which he will hold talks with officials from the National Transitional Council (NTC) in Tripoli.
The presidential adviser said he will meet with South African officials and other delegations that will be attending the event.
South Africa has warned several times in the past that it will arrest Bashir should he visit in compliance with an arrest warrant issued for him by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on ten counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide he allegedly masterminded in Sudan’s western region of Darfur.
This was despite African Union (AU) resolutions instructing its members not to cooperate with the ICC in apprehending Bashir.
Celebrations for the ANC’s official 100th anniversary began on Friday and the main event is scheduled for Sunday.
ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu told Voice of America (VOA), English to Africa, that more than 40 heads of state from Africa will join the Sunday’s festivities in Mangaung, Free State Province. The ANC was founded in the village on Jan. 8, 1912.
The ANC ended white minority, apartheid rule in South Africa and inspired people around the world after its long jailed leader Nelson Mandela was elected president.
(ST)