Bashir slip: SA government to answer

A beaming Omar al-Bashir, president of Sudan, greets cheering supporters on his return to Khartoum. Photo: MARWAN ALI

A beaming Omar al-Bashir, president of Sudan, greets cheering supporters on his return to Khartoum. Photo: MARWAN ALI

Published Jun 17, 2015

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Johannesburg - The government and the UN have both denied claims that South African troops were held hostage in Sudan pending President Omar al-Bashir’s release.

The government has until next Thursday to explain how the Sudanese leader got away.

A court on Monday ordered the government to disclose why he was allowed to leave, in a ruling which criticised the authorities' action as inconsistent with the constitution.

Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur, arrived in South Africa on Saturday to attend the AU summit, prompting a court bid by a rights group to have him arrested.

The government said it would investigate the circumstances surrounding Bashir's departure on his presidential jet that took off from a military base.

“We will also comply with the court order relating to submission of an affidavit outlining these circumstances,” the government said in a statement.

Meanwhile, independent criminal law expert James Grant described as “devastating” its failure to uphold the Pretoria High Court ruling to detain him.

“There’s a reason the rule of law enjoys supremacy - it protects us all. The courts are supposed to enforce that supremacy. If a society doesn’t have that, then it’s a crisis,” he said on Wednesday.

The government’s position could lead to another legal battle with the Southern Africa Litigation Centre, which instituted the initial court action to get the government to arrest Bashir and hand him over to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The organisation’s lawyer Caroline James said on Wednesday morning that they were deciding whether to institute further proceedings against the government.

On Wednesday UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also weighed in on the controversy, saying the authority of the ICC needed to be respected.

Ban said the court’s decision to have Bashir arrested must be implemented, but it is too late.

Meanwhile, the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) has denied that soldiers stationed in Sudan were held hostage until Bashir was allowed to leave this country.

Media reports on Tuesday said about 1 400 soldiers deployed to Darfur as part of the AU peacekeeping mission were held at gunpoint to secure Bashir’s safe return.

On Tuesday, SANDF spokesman Siphiwe Dlamini said it was untrue that members of the SANDF had been held hostage.

“There is equally no substance to support these allegations. The SANDF did not come under any threat during this period.

“The security situation in Darfur is calm where our troops are deployed,” he said.

The SANDF commander in Khartoum has regular meetings with the Sudanese army, and the last one was on Monday, he said.

However, a listener on Power FM’s afternoon Power Drive show, who would not identify himself, called in to confirm that a relative stationed in Sudan was one of the soldiers held hostage.

The caller said the relative spoke to the family on Monday and told them their camp was surrounded by the Sudanese army.

She told them that if Bashir was arrested, “something wrong was going to happen to them”.

The Star and AFP

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