Sudan summons EU envoy to protest statement condemning Djibouti-Uganda non-cooperation with ICC

July 11, 2018 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese foreign ministry on Wednesday summoned the European Union ambassador to Khartoum, Jean-Michel Dumond, to express its dissatisfaction with a statement issued by the Council of the European Union, criticizing Uganda and Djibouti for not arresting President Omer al-Bashir.

Al-Bashir was in Djibouti on 5 July to take part in the inauguration of a regional trade zone together with the Ethiopian prime minister and Djiboutian president. After what he travelled to Entebbe on 7 July for a meeting on South Sudan peace with Presidents Yoweri Museveni and Slava Kiir and SPLM-IO leader Riek Machar.

“Khartoum rejects the pressure on African countries to respond to the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s allegations on Sudan,” Foreign Ministry Under-Secretary Abdel-Ghani Al-Nai’m told Dumond, according to a statement issued by Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Garib Allah Khidir.

Al-Naim said Bashir was exercising his sovereign duties, including foreign visits, according to his constitutional duties and in accordance with international law. He was referring here to his political immunity as head of state preventing his arrest.

Sudan which is not a state party “does not accept to be subject to any action or conduct based on the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court,” further said the foreign ministry spokesperson.

The ICC issued two arrest warrants against Bashir in 2009 and 2010 for alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed in Darfur.

After what the statement said the Sudanese diplomat told the EU envoy that President al-Bashir is mandated by the IGAD head of states and governments to conduct “a noble mission to bring peace in South Sudan, which will positively impact the regional peace and security.”

“The European Union should have issued a statement to support Sudan’s efforts in this regard instead of this rejected statement,” added the statement.

Also, he praised Sudan’s cooperation under the leadership of Al-Bashir with the European Union and the international community in general to address international issues of mutual interest, including combating terrorism, illegal immigration, human trafficking and organized crime, as well as receiving millions of refugees.

The European Union spokesperson in his statement said the 28-country union “remains a strong supporter of the ICC and is committed to enforcing (the) international criminal law and to ending impunity”.

(ST)