Sudan: reluctance to transfer Omar Bashir to the ICC?
Former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in April 2015. REUTERS
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Sudan and the International Criminal Court (ICC) signed Thursday, August 12 in Khartoum a cooperation agreement that could pave the way for the surrender of ousted President Omar al-Bashir and his collaborators to this tribunal.
According to Karim Khan, the ICC attorney general, this new memorandum of understanding signed with the Sudanese government should include all those against whom arrest warrants have been issued by the ICC.
But there are still many reluctance within the state apparatus to be ironed out before al-Bashir is handed over to international justice.
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After the green light from the Sudanese government, the interim Sovereign Council will have to give its approval.
He will have to say whether or not he accepts to hand ousted President
Omar al-Bashir and the two former officials
of his regime
to the ICC
.
Speaking to the press on Thursday,
Karim Khan
said the decision would be taken at a meeting of the Interim Sovereign Council with the government.
But there is not yet a specific date for this meeting and the ICC attorney general admitted that he had not obtained from the Sudanese authorities a date on which Bashir would be delivered.
According to one of al-Bashir's lawyers, “
it will not be a simple matter
”.
Since Wednesday, August 11, the subject has aroused many reactions indeed.
The army remains reluctant.
Part of the population saw this decision as a humiliation of Sudan and demanded that the former head of state be tried in Sudanese justice.
For the Islamic movement, the ideological referent of the deposed National Congress Party, this decision is a “
blow against Sudanese justice
” and a “
submission of an agent government to suspicious organizations
”.
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To read:
Sudan: towards the end of impunity for crimes committed in Darfur
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Sudan
International justice
Omar al-Bashir