COMMITMENTS to African Union resolutions means that Nigeria cannot carry out the arrest warrant on visiting
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, Nigeria’s Foreign Minister Olugbenga Ashiru has said.
The pronouncement comes as Nigeria plays host to President al-Bashir who is part of the dignitaries currently in Nigeria to attend the ????
According to Ambassador Ashiru, Nigeria remains a signatory to a 2009 resolution of the African Union and therefore is bounded by its terms.
He was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting in Brazil.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) accuses Mr Bashir of committing genocide during Sudan’s Darfur conflict, which has left some 200,000 people dead, He denies the charge.
The AU in 2009 soon after Mr Bashir’s arrest warrant was issued, decided that member states should not enforce it.
The continental body accuses the ICC of complicating peace efforts in the region, and witch-hunting Africans.
International rights activists are critical of Nigeria’s decision to ignore the ICC’s arrest warrant on Mr Bashir, although a section of Nigeria’s human rights community does not see anything wrong in allowing Mr Bashir into the country.
It’s been five years since the warrant was issued and the Sudanese President is still a free man
The activists however blame it on ICC’s selective treatment of alleged war criminals, according to Abu.
Mr Bashir is attending a health summit convened by the African Union (AU) in Nigeria’s capital city of Abuja.
His visit was an “affront to victims” of the conflict in Darfur, rights groups said.
New York-based campaign group Human Rights Watch said Nigeria had the “shameful distinction” of being the first West African state to welcome Mr Bashir since the arrest warrant was issued.
This is his first trip to West Africa since the warrant was issued.
Mr Bashir has been refused trips to Uganda, South Africa, Malawi and Zambia in the past because of his indictment.
Though initially welcomed by African leaders, the ICC has been accused of exclusively targeting African war criminals and failing to indict anyone from other continents.
The ICC and its backers deny the charge.
However, the Sudanese president failed to turn up at the ongoing Special Follow-Up Summit on HIV/AIDS and other related where he was expected to make a presentation, after a red-carpet welcome on Sunday.
Al-Bashir’s absence was attributed to fears that he might be arrested by Nigerian authorities following pressure from rights groups and foreign governments.
The Sudanese leader has not attended any session of the Abuja +12 Special Follow-Up Summit.
His absence follows pressure from Nigerian civil society organizations and foreign governments who have called on the authorities to arrest him if he showed up.
Nigeria is the third nation to welcome al-Bashir since an arrest warrant was issued against him, and although Nigeria had vowed to not turn him over, it appears al-Bashir has moved into hiding.
“Nigeria is just hosting it [AU Summit]. It’s not Nigeria that invited him. He’s not here on a bilateral visit,” President Goodluck Jonathan’s special advisor on media, Reuben Abat said on Monday.
“He is here to participate in an AU summit, and Nigeria is not in a position to determine who attends an AU event and who does not attend.
“Nigeria is just providing the platform for the meeting.”
Sources say the Sudanese president may have left the west African country.
Only Chad and Djibouti, who are ICC signatories, have received Al-Bashir in the past year and refused to arrest him.
He was denied entry into Uganda, South Africa, Malawi and Zambia.