Sudan Military Council Declines To Handover Ousted Al-Bashir To ICC

Sudan Military Council has revealed that it will not handover ousted President Oman Al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Following the military coup on Thursday, which ended the 30-year rule of Al-Bashir, many felt that the ouster had exposed him to arrest by ICC, after the being deprived the office that gave him immunity for over a decade.

Sudan’s Minister of Defence Awad Mohammed Ibn Ouf, who was sworn in as chief of military council, confirmed that Al-Bashir is still in custody.

“We as a military council, we will not deliver the President abroad during our period” in office, Mr Abdin said when asked about the ICC arrest warrant.

The move follows calls by Amnesty International for Sudan to handover Al-Bashir to ICC.

“Bashir is wanted for some of the most odious human rights violations of our generation, and we need to finally see him held accountable,” Amnesty secretary general Kumi Naidoo said in a statement.

Al-Bashir was the first sitting president to be indicted by the International criminal court.

In March 2009, ICC slapped Al-Bashir with the first warrant of arrest on five counts of crimes against humanity in Darfur, where his troops quelled a rebellion in 2013.

In July 2010, ICC issued yet another warrant of arrest but he was lucky as Sudan wasn’t a member of the International Criminal Court based in Hague, Netherlands. The case was referred to the United Nations security.

In 2010, during the promulgation of the new constitution, Al-Bashir arrived in Kenya, putting the government on the spot over its stand on human rights.

What followed was a series of protests by human activists groups. Some moved to court.

Meanwhile, Mohammed has now been tasked to run the country for two years pending election preparations.

Read: Sudan Defense Minister Sworn-in As Interim Head Of Military Council After Al-Bashir’s Ouster

During the period, the military affirmed that it will not allow any security breaches.

However, the council said the period can be as short as one month if it is managed “without chaos.

This is following an appeal by Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) which opposes the military move to take over the government.

While addressing a news conference in the capital, Khartoum on Firday, Omar Zein Abideen said that the army has “no ambition to hold the reins of power”, and stressed that “we are ready to step down as early as a month if a government is formed”.

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