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Sudan president flouts arrest warrant, leaves South Africa

Hundreds of supporters welcome Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, center left, on his arrival from South Africa at the airport in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday. (Associated Press)
Robyn Dixon Los Angeles Times

JOHANNESBURG – Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir’s jet took off into Pretoria’s sunny winter skies Monday, spiriting him away from a looming arrest warrant and leaving behind a trail of questions about South Africa’s respect for international law and its own courts.

In allowing Bashir to flee, the South African government was contravening its own High Court, which issued an order Sunday barring his departure. On Monday, the court went further, issuing a warrant for Bashir’s arrest on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. But by then, he was in the air, on his way home after attending an African Union summit in Johannesburg.

He stepped off his plane in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, several hours later and raised a stick in the air as several hundred supporters greeted him, the Associated Press reported.

Bashir was indicted by the International Criminal Court in 2009 and 2010. He is accused of war crimes in the Darfur conflict, in which 300,000 people died.

The chief judge of South Africa’s High Court, Dunstan Mlambo, said South African authorities had violated the constitution by letting Bashir go, and demanded an explanation from government lawyer William Mokhari.

Earlier, as the media buzzed with reports that Bashir had flown out of South Africa, Mokhari told the court that Bashir’s name wasn’t on a list of those who left the country. After the court ordered Bashir’s arrest, Mokhari acknowledged that he had been told by the government that Bashir had departed.

Critics said South Africa’s reputation as a nation supportive of international justice and human rights has been shattered. Questions were raised about the government’s respect for international law and the courts.

“South Africa was one of the countries that was considered to be very much for international justice,” said Ottilia Maunganidze of the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies. “This just flies in the face of what we had been led to believe. It also speaks (to) South Africa’s aspirations in the U.N., in terms of whether it can be regarded as consistent in its actions, or whether it is a country that can be trusted, when push comes to shove.”

Others questioned whether the government had intentionally misled the court, and whether it had been playing for time since Sunday to allow Bashir to get out of the country before a court ordered his arrest.

South Africa previously warned that it would arrest Bashir if he visited the country. But before the African Union summit, it declared that all leaders attending the meeting were being granted legal immunity.

The incident underscores the growing opposition in Africa to the International Criminal Court. Critics complain that the ICC, which is based in The Hague, Netherlands, has mainly focused on prosecutions in Africa (although the majority of such prosecutions were referred to the court by African governments). There is anger that the United States and some other countries refuse to submit to the court’s jurisdiction, yet expect African nations to do so.