Al-Bashir defies ICC arrest warrant to attend African Heads of State Summit in Johannesburg
The Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir flew to South Africa on Saturday to attend the African Union (AU) summit in Johannesburg despite the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against him.
The Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Ibrahim Gandour told the reporters upon his departure to South Africa that the president is leading the Sudanese delegation to the AU summit.
Gandour has revealed that Sudan will present a draft resolution for the African leaders to withdraw from the ICC.
‘’We calls on all the African leaders to withdraw from this colonialist and racist court, because it’s just targeted the African leaders’’ the minister said.
Last April, the Sudanese president cancelled a planned visit to Indonesia on to attend the Asian-African summit.
President Al-Bashir has been indicted by the Hague-based ICC for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur since 2009.
AFRICAN LEADERS
ICC and the international human rights organizations have repeatedly called on the world countries not to host Al-Bashir or to arrest him if he foot in its territories.
The two-day summit in Johannesburg will bring together over 50 African leaders including President Uhuru Kenyatta who has arrived in South Africa on Saturday.
The theme of the 25th AU Heads of State and Government Summit is “2015 Year of Women Empowerment and Development towards Africa’s Agenda 2063”.
The theme resonates well with African Women Decade sub-themes as well as the critical areas of concern of the Beijing Platform for Action.
Kenya, having hosted the Third World Conference on Women in 1985 and the African Women’s Decade (2010-2020), remained firmly committed to Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women.
Other strategic issues affecting African countries including security challenges across the continent, Integration; Governance and Climate Change will dominate the summit agenda.