KAMPALA – Human rights activists in Uganda are pushing Uganda to effect the International Criminal Court arrest warrant and arrest the visiting Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir.
Twos statements issued separately by the International Center for Transitional Justice [ICTJ] and Human Rights Network Uganda say Uganda should arrest the Sudanese leader and him over to ICC.
“As a state party to the Rome Statute, Uganda has an equivocal obligation to cooperate with the ICC in relation to the enforcement of warrants of arrest issued against Bashir, which stems from United Nations Security Resolution 1593, where the UN Security Council urged states to cooperate fully with ICC,” the statement reads.
The ICC issued two arrest warrants in 2009 and 2012 against President Bashir for the alleged perpetuation of crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes in Darfur.
After ICTJ statement, the executive director of Human Rights Network Uganda in Kampala, Mr Mohammed Ndifuna, said “Bashir should be arrested following the alleged killings he orchestrated.”
“We need to arrest this man as directed by ICC. We have a chance today even if we failed in May last year. He has become a social distress. When people see us with him, they will think we don’t care about those he killed,” Mr Ndifuna said.
Bashir was last in the country in May last year to attend President Museveni’s fifth swearing-in ceremony.
