Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir flew out of South Africa on Monday, defying a high court order which banned him from leaving the country until an application calling for his arrest had been heard.
Sudan’s information minister Ahmed Bilal Osman confirmed that he had left and was expected to land in Khartoum at about 18:30 local time.
An interim order was made by the high court in Pretoria on Sunday, barring President Bashir from leaving South Africa, pending an application from civil society organisations calling for his arrest on an International Criminal Court warrant.
Earlier on Monday, Osman said the president would return to Sudan regardless of whether the high court ordered his arrest.
“The [South African] judiciary does not have policemen. No one is going to arrest him.”
The South African state broadcaster, SABC, reported at about 10:15 GMT on Monday that the president’s plane had flown out of the Waterkloof air force base, on the outskirts of Pretoria.
Prior to the president leaving the country, the high court in Pretoria was expected to decide whether to send Bashir to the International Criminal Court.
A number of African countries have in the past decided not to co-operate with the ICC. The court has been accused of racism and bias against African leaders.
Next time he is tempted to venture outside his Islamic haven he will think twice.
and was given a guard of honor as he left south africa.
The South African Government and its ruling ANC has done something honorable. The so called ICC is a nothing but a vehicle of conspiracy and coercion set up for and to set asphyxiate Africans. There is no equity of justice and standard practices in its mandate. Arrest Tony Blair and George Bush dripping with more human blood than any one else since 2nd WW2. Only until then, its a very useless front.
Glad you made safe out of the country. If the ICC are serious, let them hold some western leaders accountable as well.
Let us not allow the west to continue influencing events in Africa.
South Africa is so full of drama. But some of the headlines coming from there are not positive. This country needs a lot of prayers.
The reason the ICC does not call many western leaders to account is because they are not signatory to the ICC statute. The ICC charter is only applicable to countries that are signatory to it. If African leaders feel unfairly targeted, they should simply opt out of the ICC. It’s actually a voluntary thing. But when you are a member, you must oblige to the requirements.
Or better still, we should learn to study some of these documents before we become signatories.
Take for example, the USA is not signatory to the ICC charter. They cannot, therefore, be held account to the ICC for crimes committed in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.
It`s good the South African gavenment did not give in to the ICC demand.
People, people hear me please! This man killed a lot of defenceless women and children in Darfur and many other places. Who is going to hold him accountable? Are the human beings killed not deserve living just like you and me? Okay if you not like ICC then form one African court to take care of these crimes!!
Waza,
My feeling is that many of us Zambians/Africans have been conditioned to go into auto-mode when it comes to West vs Africa. We take an anti-West position regardless of the facts involved.
If GW Bush committed war crimes in Iraq, that does not justify the lighter skinned Sudanese to salughter their darker skinned countrymen with impunity.
Waza,
Thank you for the free education you have given to many ignorant people on this blog. The anti-West sentiments being expressed by some people in support of al-Bashir are quite repulsive. It is like they are saying al-Bashir is right to kill thousands of black people in his country because the life of a black person is worthy nothing. This is depressing. Anyway what else can you expect from a continent and people who choose Mugabe is the leader of their continental organisation?
He killed 300,000 black Africans. Bashier is an Arab and Arabs regard Black Africans as Kaffir (check your dictionary)
The problem with african leaders is they kill & steal from their own people. No african has enough guts to question their own leaders.
Until we learn to stand up to these despots we will continue to rely on international institutions for justice.
If Bush or Blair had killed their own people, americans & britons would have acted against them.
For me the only positive is the courage exhibited by the SA judiciary.
No other judiciary in Africa has such “balls”.
The sneering statements pelted at the ICC though genuine in a way are slowly becoming insipid. Firstly out our own volition we choose to be signatories and when they want to implement what was agreed to we turn round and point in the direction of other countries that are not signatories in the first place.
Other than cry foul and yet cling to it Africa must opt out of ICC. Before doing so though it must as of necessity establish an institution that will help in curtailing impunity among its leaders. There is so much impunity and the extent to which Presidents in Africa go in ignoring their own constitutions as they pursue the infamous third term offers a classic example.
Well for Bashir this is likely to be a scar that will constantly remind him that he is not omnipotent after all.
How many times have Bush or Blair travelled abroad, yet no one has ever ordered for their arrests on war crimes against the Iraq people?? It’s a well known fact that the message of weapons of mass destruction was not only botched but based on lies and deceit!
So are the promises of “90 days”. And yet, you are “enjoying” fruits of lies and deceit.
The assumption that only black leaders are targeted is mis placed. 1 Al Bashir is not African per se. 2 Two former leaders of tha Balkans ( Yugoslavia) have already been imprisoned for crimes against humanity and war crimes. 3 Bashir or his predeccessors are racist and that is why we now have South Sudan.
The West must not be allowed to impose political systems of their choice on all countries. Such steps have now created chaos on Iraq, Libya, Syria and other places and worse atrocities have come up! This is also affecting them through immigrants and terror threats- talk of chickens coming home to roost!
bush killed sadam for no reasons b4 that there was no war in iraq thousands died coz ov bush and they are stil dyng why cant the icc arrest bush and blair?