JOHANNESBURG (AP) – A South African judge has ordered authorities to prevent Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, from leaving the country because of an international order for his arrest, human rights activists said Sunday.
It was unclear whether authorities would heed efforts to have al-Bashir detained on behalf of the International Criminal Court, if he is indeed in South Africa. South African media said he was attending a summit of the African Union, which has asked the International Criminal Court to stop proceedings against sitting presidents and will not compel any member states to arrest a leader on behalf of the court
Al-Bashir’s exact whereabouts were unknown Sunday. He has not been seen in public at the Johannesburg meeting. He has traveled abroad before and local authorities had not detained him at the behest of the ICC, which is based in The Hague, Netherlands.
The Southern Africa Litigation Centre, a rights group, said it secured a judge’s ruling that the government must stop al-Bashir from leaving South Africa while the court hears arguments for his arrest for alleged genocide and other crimes.
International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has said South Africa is under a legal obligation to arrest al-Bashir and surrender him to the court. Her office has been in touch with South African authorities on the Sudanese president’s reported visit.