Sudan's President Omar al Bashir has fled South Africa before a court ruling on whether he should be arrested and handed over to the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to journalists at Waterkloof Airforce Base in South Africa.

Bashir's premature departure comes before the conclusion of the African Union summit in Johannesburg this evening.

South African media reported that the Sudanese president's aircraft was seen taking off some minutes after 13:07. The Sudanese leader's aircraft apparently obtained flight clearances in spite of a court order barring his departure from the country.

SABC News reported at about 13:20 that a diplomatic source confirmed Bashir had left the country. A reporter for the same news outlet had earlier spotted Bashir leaving his hotel in Sandton near the Convention Centre where the African Union heads of states summit is underway.

Sudan’s minister of information later said that Bashir was aboard the plane and was expected back in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, on Monday evening, according to the Sudanese News Agency.

Shortly before Bashir's departure the High Court in Pretoria had demanded to know from government Advocate William Mokhari whether the government had complied with its order yesterday that Bashir not leave the country.

Mokhari informed the court that there was no risk that Bashir would leave the country.

“My instruction is that President Bashir has been invited to attend an AU summit which finishes today this evening so that if indeed President Bashir has come to attend the AU summit, I saw no risk whatsoever of President Bashir disappearing before he executes the business of his government which he has come here for,” he said.

The court adjourned for an hour shortly after Mokhari made this statement. Before ordering the adjournment the judges appeared to have consulted with each other about whether to issue a follow-up order. The court heard argument from both sides this afternoon.

During the afternoon session Mokhari disclosed to the court that the Waterkloof airforce base had been informed that morning not to allow Bashir to depart. “Waterkloof does not operate as a normal point of entry... but I've been assured that despite that Waterkloof was also notified and the person in charge was informed in the morning about the court order.”