Despite arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has been welcomed into several African Union member states in the past year including Chad, Eritrea, and Ethiopia. In just the past month President Bashir has traveled to Eritrea to discuss enhanced bilateral relations and border security, and to Ethiopia to participate in discussions on alleviating hunger within the region.

Although Ethiopia and Eritrea are not parties to the Rome Statute that created the ICC, they still have an obligation to render Bashir to the Court because the situation in Sudan was referred to the ICC by the UN Security Council. While the AU Constitutive Act states its determination to “promote and protect the human and people’s rights” and ensure the rule of law, member countries that have hosted Bashir such as Eritrea, Ethiopia and Chad continue to ignore those rights and fail to support human dignity, thus degrading the peace and stability of the region.

The visit to Ethiopia to discuss alleviation of hunger is especially egregious as Bashir’s government has consistently used expulsion and blocking of international humanitarian assistance as a weapon in Darfur and recently in South Kordofan and Blue Nile. The Sudanese Armed Forces have further bombed fields disrupting the cultivation season and exacerbating the food insecurity conditions for civilians severely affected by fighting. It is extremely troubling that a man responsible for such policies against Sudanese civilians should be welcomed by the African Union and the Ethiopian government to participate in any strategic discussion on hunger mitigation.

BashirWatch strongly encourages all AU member countries to take a stand, oppose Bashir’s oppression, and openly support the international community in its mission to bring Bashir to justice.

As law makers in the United States pursue legislation that will impose sanctions on any country that fails to arrest Bashir and the EU reaffirms the legal obligation to co-operate with the ICC, neighboring countries should be the first allies with the international community to recognize human rights violations against the people of Darfur.

BashirWatch continues to track Bashir’s travels and urges all countries to cooperate and comply with the arrest warrant for Bashir in order to end impunity for his atrocities. This is the only way to show respect for the victims of crimes in Darfur and help promote accountability for mass crimes.

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