Bashir to skip China-Africa summit in South Africa
November 25, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir will not travel to South Africa to attend the Forum of China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) scheduled for next week.
There was much speculation about Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes allegedly committed in Darfur, making another trip to South Africa after the highly controversial trip last June.
Bashir’s attendance at the African Union (AU) summit in Pretoria at the time created a diplomatic and legal mess for the South African government which not only violated its ICC obligations but also an explicit order by the High Court to prevent the Sudanese leader from departing pending a decision on whether to extradite him to the Hague.
The Sudanese leader fled the country hours before the High Court ordered his arrest and the South African government told the judges that he sneaked out without their knowledge.
South Africa started attacking the ICC in the aftermath and announced its intention to withdraw from the court backed by a ruling party resolution to that effect.
Its officials have also insisted that Bashir will be free to attend FOCAC without fearing arrest.
But later media reports quoting South African officials said that Bashir was quietly asked to stay away.
The Chinese president also reportedly made the same request of Bashir to avoid having his presence overshadow the summit.
The Independent On-Line newspaper (IOL)quoted an official at the Sudanese embassy in South Africa as saying that Bashir “is currently engaged in highly important domestic issues, including the following up of the national dialogue, as well as the Addis Ababa round of negotiation between the Sudan and the armed groups”.
“Moreover, President Al-Bashir recently participated in three consecutive summits, including Beijing summit of the forum on China-Africa, India Africa Forum Summit and the Fourth Summit of Arab-South American countries which convened in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.”
(ST)