South Africa will have to defy its own judiciary or risk the wrath of other African nations if the High Court orders the government to arrest visiting Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on war crimes and genocide charges.
Judge Hans Fabricius told the government Sunday to keep al-Bashir in South Africa while he decides whether to order the Sudanese leader's arrest for two International Criminal Court indictments for alleged atrocities in the Darfur region. Al- Bashir arrived to attend an African Union summit in Johannesburg on Saturday, after President Jacob Zuma's administration published a notice granting all attendees immunity.
A signatory to the Rome Statute that established the ICC, South Africa's obligations to arrest al-Bashir contradict the pledge it made to the AU, said Dirk Kotze, a political science professor at the University of South Africa. The court resumed briefly at 11:30 a.m. Monday and adjourned for another hour.