Sudanese president stays away from AU summit in Uganda

Sudan is not represented by a high-level delegation at the African Union summit that began on Sunday in the Ugandan capital Kampala. President Omar Al Bashir will not attend the African Union summit. Instead, reportedly the Sudanese ambassador in Kampala is representing Sudan, a low-level representative compared to the other delegates in attendance, which include Heads of State.Bashir’s decision not to attend follows his trip last week to Chad to participate in the summit of Sahel-Saharan states. His visit there was made possible by assurances from the Chadian government that it would not arrest him and hand him over to the International Criminal Court. Sources told Radio Dabanga from Khartoum that Bashir chose not to attend despite having earlier received an apology from Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni for remarks that his government would possibly arrest him. Ugandan officials made clear in statements to the press earlier this month that Bashir was formally invited to attend but that they would try to ensure that a lower-level official would attend in his place.

President Al Bashir appears to have suffered another diplomatic set-back in a debate that occurred late into the night of Saturday to Sunday. Delegates to the African Union conference considered a ban on cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC), in line with AU Commissioner Jean Ping’s opposition to the court. The Libyan delegates led a bloc of countries that included Eritrea and Egypt in an effort to pass an anti-ICC resolution, Reuters news agency reported. The draft resolution affirmed that the African Union “reiterates its decision that AU member states shall not cooperate with the ICC in the arrest and surrender of President Bashir.” However, this pro-Bashir effort was defeated by a bloc of countries led by South Africa. Debate on another contentious question has been deferred: whether the ICC should be allowed to open a liaison office to the African Union in Addis Ababa.

In another diplomatic development related to the ICC, the European Union Foreign Affairs Council at a meeting on Monday concluded that the Sudanese government should cooperate fully with the world court. “The Council recalls that war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of genocide are the most serious crimes of concern to the international community and that impunity for these crimes can never be accepted,” concluded the Council, referring to the crimes that President Bashir allegedly committed, according to the warrants issued for his arrest. The European Union document was endorsed by foreign ministers in Brussels.