Bashir will be courting danger if he visits EA

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has embarked on foreign tours to prove that the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court has no impact on his official engagements.

But the questions is, how many countries in the region can he visit without being arrested, despite African Union member states having taken a collective position that the warrant should be deferred for the sake of the crisis in Darfur?

ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo has called for the arrest of President al-Bashir once he enters international airspace.

This means that fighter jets could be used to intercept his flight.

But since the issuance of the arrest warrant early last month, President al-Bashir has travelled to Eritrea, Egypt, Libya, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.

The flights are a demonstration that the warrant will not affect his official functions as the head of state. Sudan is not a signatory to the Rome Statute that created the ICC.

However, Sudan is a prominent member of the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (Igad).

As president, al-Bashir can be required any time to travel to Kenya, Uganda, Djibouti and Ethiopia, plus any other African country.

Which of these regional countries would dare arrange for his arrest and subsequent transportation to the Hague?

In line with the AU’s official position, not many African states would be willing to go against the continental body’s position.

But members that are signatory to the Rome Statute could come under pressure to meet their obligation.

Sources at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa said some Arab countries have been trying to persuade al-Bashir to comply with the ICC so that he can clear his name.

The trips, especially the one to Qatar, where al-Bashir attended the Arab League Summit, discussed how Arab states could help speed up the Darfur settlement to enable the ICC to lift the arrest warrant.

In Qatar, the Sudanese leader received remarkable support from Arab world leaders who expressed solidarity with Sudan and rejected the ICC’s decision against Bashir.

In Kenya, Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula repeated that Kenya would not help the ICC arrest the Sudanese leader.