Omar Al Bashir arrives in Uganda amid calls for his arrest
An international human rights group has urged the Ugandan government to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir if he arrives in Uganda.
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.
In a sign of thawing relations between the two countries, Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir arrives in Kampala on Thursday as part of a two-day visit to Uganda to discuss bilateral ties and the situation in South Sudan with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.
Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour, the director of the security services, Mohamed Atta, the Minister of Presidential Affairs Fadl Abdallah Fadl and several other ministers, are accompanying Al Bashir to Kampala.
Their arrival coincides with the heads of 17 states’ arrival in Kampala as guests of Thursday’s inauguration of Museveni.
The US and European Union, strong critics of Museveni, were not invited.
Ties between Sudan and Uganda have been strained over the last ten years with both governments trading accusations of support for rebel groups in South Sudan from the other side.
“Khartoum accused Kampala of backing rebel groups from Darfur and the Two Areas while the latter accused the former of supporting the Lord Resistance Army (LRA),” reported The Sudan Tribune.
A thawing of relations took place last September when Museveni visited Khartoum.
During talks the two leaders agreed to work together to bring stability to South Sudan and the region, and to end tensions between the two countries over the issue of rebel groups.
Bashir is under two International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants since 2008 for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed in Darfur, reported the Tribune.
The Sudanese President visited several African states, members of the ICC, including South Africa but was not arrested.
Uganda is a State Party to the Rome Statute and has an obligation to arrest the Sudanese president.
However, during a presidential debate last February, the Ugandan President vowed to pull out of the ICC, describing it as a “partisan” court, allegedly targeting Africans, a sentiment echoed by the South African government.
Established in 2002 to try war criminals and perpetrators of genocide never tried at home, the ICC has opened inquiries involving nine nations, including Kenya, Ivory Coast, Libya, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Uganda, Mali and, most recently, Georgia.