South Sudan civil society call for Bashir’s arrest at Juba summit

A coalition of civil society organisations in South Sudan have rejected the government’s position that it goes not have a legal obligation to arrest Bashir when he attends the presidential summit next month in Juba. The organisations said the government can arrest Bashir under Article 86 of the Rome statute of the International Criminal Court as the case was referred by the UN Security Council and South Sudan is a member of the UN. Pagan Amum, Juba’s chief negotiator said on Wednesday the government is not legally bound to arrest Bashir as it not a member of the ICC. Human rights advocates said the reception Bashir would receive is in opposition to respect for international law and human rights.