Sudanese leader flees South Africa in private jet, avoiding arrest
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is seen during the opening session of the AU summit in Johannesburg, Sunday, June 14, 2015. (AP Photo/Shiraaz Mohamed) (Shiraaz Mohamed/AP)
Sudan’s leader slipped out of South Africa on Monday in apparent defiance of a court-ordered travel ban while judges studied an arrest order from the International Criminal Court, Sudan’s official news agency reported.
The apparent dodge by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir could bring international outcry against South African authorities. But it also allowed the country to avoid a potentially sensitive confrontation between its obligations to the ICC and opposition to the court from its African partners.
The ICC, based in The Hague, has charged Bashir with links to atrocities in Sudan’s campaign against the autonomy-seeking Darfur region. The United Nations estimates 300,000 people were killed and about 2 million displaced in the conflict, which began in 2003.
A South African court had ruled that Bashir — who was in Johannesburg for an African Union summit — must remain in the country while judicial officials study the ICC arrest demands.
But Sudan’s state news agency, SUNA, reported that Bashir left South Africa aboard a flight bound for the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.
The ICC’s reach and jurisdiction is a major political issue in Africa, where many claim the court is bias against African leaders. Earlier this month, South Africa’s minister of international affairs, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, said diplomatic immunity would apply to all participants at the African Union gathering.
But South African activists had gone to court to press for the arrest of Bashir, who took power in a 1989 coup.
A judge examining the ICC arrest order, Dunstan Mlambo, criticized South African authorities for failing to keep Bashir in the country while the legal review was underway.
Mlambo expressed “concern” that the court order for Bashir to remain in the country “had not been complied with.”
At the ICC, prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has said South Africa is obliged as a backer of the court to detain and surrender Bashir.
In December, the ICC dropped charges against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta after the prosecution said it had insufficient evidence. Kenyatta was charged in connection with postelection violence that began in 2007, leaving more than 1,000 dead.
Brian Murphy joined the Post after more than 20 years as a foreign correspondent and bureau chief for the Associated Press in Europe and the Middle East. He has reported from more than 50 countries and has written three books.
