South African President Jacob Zuma has defended the decision to let Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir evade an arrest warrant and leave the country in June, saying on Thursday the wanted leader had had immunity as a guest of the African Union.
Bashir – accused of masterminding genocide during Sudan’s Darfur conflict – was allowed to leave an AU summit and fly home in defiance of a local court ruling ordering his detention under a warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“Bashir’s coming to South Africa, it was on the invitation of the AU (African Union),” Zuma said in his first comments on the incident since Bashir’s departure, according to a Reuters report.
“He is the guest of the AU,” Zuma told opposition politicians who demanded an explanation in parliament.
On the other hand, Mmusi Maimane, head of the opposition Democratic Alliance, called Bashir “a man wanted … for genocide against Africans,” and asked Zuma why he had not kept previous promises to enforce the warrant – as all ICC members are bound to do.
Zuma told parliament Bashir would have been detained if he had visited South Africa as an individual, rather than as a delegate to an AU summit.
Pretoria has said it will review its membership of the ICC and challenge a high court ruling that found the state erred in letting Bashir leave.