A Sudanese observer says President Omar al-Bashir’s returned to Khartoum on Thursday from a one-day visit to Uganda in defiance of an global warrant for his arrest on charges of genocide.
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Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday that unconfirmed reports were doing the rounds that Al-Bashir would attend the inauguration of Yoweri Museveni in Kampala on Thursday.
The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for al-Bashir on genocide charges, but he has repeatedly rejected the court’s authority and flouted its warrant by taking trips overseas.
“The visit was originally planned for one day. and most of the presidents participating left after the end of the ceremony”, Kamal Ismail said.
During his speech Museveni dubbed the ICC a “bunch of useless people” as Bashir nodded in agreement and leaders from Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania and Zimbabwe looked on.
He said the two presidents held a short meeting on the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony, adding that Museveni invited Bashir to visit Kampala again within the framework of bilateral relations.
In statements to the official news agency, SUNA, after his return from Uganda, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Kamal al-Din Ismail said the visit was “successful” and “produced the desired results”.
Their arrival coincides with the heads of 17 states’ arrival in Kampala as guests of Thursday’s inauguration of Museveni.
However, during a presidential debate last February, the Ugandan President vowed to pull of the ICC and described it as a “partisan” court, allegedly targeting Africans.
According to Amnesty International, in March 2010 the Ugandan parliament passed the International Criminal Court Bill, which fully incorporated the law of the ICC into Ugandan law.
This trip is the first by Bashir to Uganda after the ICC issued the warrants and also comes after Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni visited Khartoum previous year.
“Uganda must face up to its worldwide obligations and arrest Omar al-Bashir who is wanted on charges of genocide”, said Muthoni Wanyeki, a regional director at Amnesty global. However, Uganda has also at times been critical of the ICC.
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“The failure in meeting that commitment is considered a violation of its duty and a great betrayal of hundreds of thousands of people displaced and killed during the conflict in Darfur”.
