The United Kingdom's Minister for Africa has called on the South African government to arrest Sudan's President Omar al Bashir and hand him over to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Minister for Africa James Duddridge said in a brief statement on the social media website Twitter that he regretted the decision of the African Union to host President Bashir, pointing out that there is an outstanding ICC arrest warrant for Bashir. The minister said he calls on South Africa to arrest him.

Similarly, the European Union External Action Service announced that it supports the International Criminal Court. The statement reads in part, “The EU expects South Africa, a founding State Party of the Court, to act in accordance with UN Security Council 1593, in executing the arrest warrant against any ICC indictee present in the country.”

These statements come after the Pretoria High Court on Sunday issued an interim order to the South African government that it prevent Bashir from leaving the country.

Separately, Sudan's Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour slammed the baseless speculations and rumours circulated in international media that Bashir could be arrested. As quoted by the state-run Sudan News Agency, he said that Bashir was participating in the AU summit normally and would return home afterwards.