16 September 2008
South African President Thabo Mbeki has backed Sudan’s rejection of an international prosecutor’s bid to indict President Omar al-Bashir on charges of genocide and war crimes in Darfur.
Mbeki flew to Khartoum to see Bashir directly after presiding over the signing of Zimbabwe’s power-sharing agreement in Harare on Monday.
In a joint communiqué issued at the end of the visit, the parties said they agreed that the attempt to indict Bashir “could seriously undermine the ongoing efforts aimed at facilitating the early resolution of the conflict in Darfur and the promotion of long-lasting peace and reconciliation in the Sudan as a whole…”
In July, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, presented evidence accusing Bashir of "criminal responsibility in relation to 10 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes." He asked a pre-trial chamber of the ICC to issue an arrest warrant for Bashir.
In the communiqué, South Africa and Sudan urged the international community to provide money and logistical support to African Union peacekeepers in Darfur.
They also said Mbeki had discussed the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between northern and southern Sudan, and had met the Sudanese vice-president and President of Southern Sudan, Salva Kiir.
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