16 October 2009
Kampala — AMNESTY International yesterday expressed dismay at President Yoweri Museveni's invitation to Sudanese President Omar al Bashir to attend the special African Union summit on refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons in Africa, scheduled to begin on Monday.
Museveni during a press conference at State House Entebbe on Wednesday said Bashir would not be arrested and surrendered to the ICC upon his arrival in Uganda.
"President al Bashir is a fugitive from international justice - charged with responsibility for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur," said Christopher Keith Hall, legal adviser with Amnesty International, in a statement.
"The Ugandan government has an obligation to arrest President al Bashir and hand him over to the ICC should he enter Ugandan territory."
An arrest warrant for President al Bashir was issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on March 4.
Uganda as a state party to the treaty establishing the ICC is obliged to cooperate with the court and "arrest and surrender anyone named in an arrest warrant to the ICC", the human rights group said.
"If it fails to do so, the ICC can refer this clear violation of Uganda's obligations to the Assembly of States Parties, the ICC oversight body."
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 New Vision. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
