البشير يغادر القمة الافريقية بنيجريا قبل الموعد خوفا من القبض عليه

Sudan's President Bashir leaves AU summit in Nigeria
Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir reviews the troops as he arrives at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on 14 July 2013
Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir received a full guard of honour at Abuja
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Deadly Darfur

Bloody stalemate
Darfuris waiting for peace
Darfur: World's favourite war?
QandA: Darfur conflict
Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has left Nigeria amid calls for his arrest on charges of genocide in Darfur.

A human rights group on Monday filed a case in a Nigerian court to try to compel the government to arrest Mr Bashir and hand him over to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Mr Bashir was in Nigeria for an African Union-organised health summit due to end on Tuesday.

Sudanese diplomats said he left because he had another engagement.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Mr Bashir in 2009, accusing him of committing genocide during the 10-year conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.

On Tuesday, the ICC issued a statement saying it had asked Nigeria to arrest Mr Bashir before he left the country.

'Brave Bashir'
Sudan does not recognise the ICC and accuses it of being a tool of Western powers, while the AU has called on its members not to arrest Mr Bashir.

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Accusations against Omar al-Bashir

Genocide

Killing members of the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups
Causing these groups serious bodily or mental harm
Inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about these groups' physical destruction
Crimes against humanity

Murder
Extermination
Forcible transfer
Rape
Torture
War crimes

Attacks on civilians in Darfur
Pillaging towns and villages
Profile: Sudan's Omar al-Bashir
QandA: International Criminal Court
Mr Bashir was to due to speak at the summit in the capital, Abuja, on Monday, Nigeria's Guardian newspaper reports.

But when he was called to make a presentation, he was nowhere to be found, it says.

Sudan's ambassador to the African Union Abdelrahman Sirelkhatim Mohamed denied Mr Bashir left to evade arrest, AFP news agency reports.

"He's the bravest," Mr Mohamed is quoted as saying.

"If he's afraid of arrest, he would not have come here."

Mr Bashir received a full guard of honour from the Nigerian government when he arrived in Abuja on Sunday to attend the summit, which is looking at ways to curb malaria, Aids and tuberculosis in Africa.

He was among eight African leaders who attended the summit, Associated Press news agency reports.

Some had left on Monday, but others, including Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta, were still at the summit on Tuesday, Reuters news agency reports.

Nigerian presidential spokesman Reuben Abati told AP that Mr Bashir had been in Abuja at the AU's invitation, not Nigeria's.

Nigeria allowed him into the country in accordance with an AU decision not to cooperate with the ICC, he said.

The Nigerian Coalition for the International Criminal Court (NCICC) filed papers in the High Court on Monday, to push the government to arrest Mr Bashir.

Nigeria was in breach of its international obligations by failing to arrest him, and was fuelling a culture of impunity, NCICC chair Chino Obiagwu said.

Kenyan precedent?
Sudan's foreign ministry accused the UK of being hypocritical by criticising Nigeria for failing to arrest Mr Bashir.

"Britain participated in the Iraq invasion after it had manipulated the domestic and international opinion with reasons it knew were lies. Iraq, our friend, still suffers from the destruction," the ministry said in a statement, Reuters reports.

On Monday, the UK minister for Africa, Mark Simmonds, said Nigeria's decision to host Mr Bashir "undermines the work of the ICC and sends the victims a dismaying message that the accountability they are waiting for will be delayed further".

Although Nigeria's government has resisted the calls to arrest Mr Bashir, in 2003, it handed ex-Liberian President Charles Taylor to a UN-backed court to stand trial on war crimes charges, following intense diplomatic pressure from the US.

Mr Taylor had been exiled in Nigeria, and was arrested as he tried to flee.

Mr Bashir has visited numerous African countries since the arrest warrant was issued - including Ethiopia, Kenya and Malawi.

Last year, Malawi's new leader said she did not want Mr Bashir to attend a summit there, reversing the position of her predecessor.

In 2011, a Kenyan court ruled that Sudan's president should be arrested if he ever visited the country following a case brought by a non-governmental organisation, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ).

Some 2.7 million people have fled their homes since the conflict began in Darfur in 2003, and the UN says about 300,000 have died - mostly from disease.

The ICC says Mr Bashir's government backed Arab militias who targeted civilian members of the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa communities.

Sudan's government says the conflict has killed about 12,000 people and the number of dead has been exaggerated for political reasons.

ICC-CPI-20130716-PR932



Press Release: 16.07.2013



Pre-Trial Chamber II requests Nigeria to immediately arrest Omar Al Bashir



Situation: Darfur, Sudan

Case: The Prosecutor v. Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir



On 15 July 2013, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (ICC) requested the Federal Republic of Nigeria to immediately arrest Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir, on visit to Abuja (Nigeria) and to surrender him to the ICC. Omar Al Bashir faces charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, allegedly committed in Darfur (Sudan).



The Chamber recalled that Nigeria is a State party to the Rome Statute since 2001, and has the obligation to execute the Court’s orders. The Chamber also noted that the situation in Darfur was referred to the ICC by resolution 1593 of the United Nations Security Council and that, according to article 87(7) of the Rome Statute, "[w]here a State Party fails to comply with a request to cooperate by the Court contrary to the provisions of this Statute

the Court may make a finding to that effect and refer the matter to the Assembly of States Parties or, where the Security Council referred the matter to the Court, to the Security Council".



The Chamber instructed the ICC Registrar to immediately transmit the decision to the Nigerian authorities, and to prepare a report to the Chamber concerning Omar Al Bashir's visit to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.



Background

Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir is alleged to have committed five counts of crimes against humanity (murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture and rape), two counts of war crimes (intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking part in hostilities, and pillaging), and three counts of genocide committed against the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups. Two warrants of arrest have been issued in this case. The suspect remains at large.



The ICC has informed the United Nations Security Council and the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of Mr Al Bashir’s visits to Djibouti, Chad and Kenya, as well as of the non-cooperation of Malawi and Chad in arresting Mr Al Bashir. It is for the United Nations Security Council and the Assembly of States Parties to take any measure they may deem appropriate to ensure the full cooperation with the ICC.



Decision Regarding Omar Al-Bashir's Visit to the Federal Republic of Nigeria