UN may sanction Nigeria for Al-Bashir’s visit
Sudan President Omar Hassan al-Bashir
NIGERIA may be sanctioned by the United Nations for the visit of the Sudanese President, Omar al-Bashir, to the country
The International Criminal Court, The
Hague, said on Tuesday, that it might report Nigeria to the UN Security
Council for possible sanction over its failure to arrest al-Bashir,
during his visit to the country.
This came even as the European Union
maintained on Tuesday that UN member states, including Nigeria, a state
which is a party to Rome Statute, should abide by and implement the UN
resolutions.
Al-Bashir cut short his visit to Nigeria and abruptly left on Monday amid calls for his arrest by groups and activists.
ICC said it had on Monday sent official
request to Nigeria, demanding the arrest of al-Bashir to enforce the
international arrest warrants issued on him since 2009.
The ICC issued the warrants on March 4,
2009 and July 12, 2010, after indicting him for crime against humanity
in the Darfur crisis.
An ICC spokesman, Fadi El-Abdallah, was quoted by Financial Times
as saying that the three judges trying Bashir’s case might have to ask
the UN Security Council to sanction Nigeria for violating its
commitments as a signatory to the court’s founding treaty.
El-Abdallah said, “The judges have asked
the court’s registry to prepare a report on Mr Bashir’s visit to
Nigeria. After that it is up to them to decide whether to refer it to
the Security Council.”
The Sudanese leader had arrived in
Nigeria on Sunday to attend an African Union summit on HIV/AIDs,
tuberculosis and malaria, which was to end on Tuesday, but left abruptly
on Monday.
But spokesman for Sudanese Embassy in Nigeria, Mohammed Moiz, told The Washington Post that his country’s head left to fulfil other engagements.
Barely 24 hours after his arrival, a
coalition of Non-Governmental Organisations approached a Federal High
Court in Abuja to compel the Federal Government to enforce the ICC
warrant for Al-Bashir’s arrest.
Meanwhile, a group under the aegis of
Nigeria’s on International Court of Justice on Tuesday protested against
the country’s failure to arrest al-Bashir.
The peaceful protest held within the premises of the International Conference Centre in Abuja, where the AU summit held.
The Chairman (steering committee) of
NCICJ, Mr. Chima Obiagwu, who led placard-carrying members of the group,
condemned the reception accorded to al-Bashir by the Nigerian
government.
A human rights group, PEN Nigeria
Centre, described al-Bashir’s visit as “nothing but an insult on
Nigerians as well as an indictment of the Goodluck Jonathan’s
administration.”
The group’s Secretary-General, Ropo
Ewenla, said Nigeria, as party to the Rome Statue, was bound to execute
the arrest warrants issued by the ICC against al-Bashir, when he was
within its jurisdiction.
EU High Representative, Catherine
Ashton, stressed in her statement the need for member states to abide by
and implement the resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council under
Chapter VII of the UN Charter.