By George Murumba

29^th Nov 2010

Barred President Bashir

Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir has been barred from attending the 3rd Africa-European Union (EU) summit that kicks off today in Libya.

Unable to stave off the mounting pressure from a host of European governments to exclude Bashir from the summit, Libya’s Foreign Affairs Minister finally succumbed and advised President Bashir not to appear for the summit for fear that his presence could trigger a European protest walkout.

President Bashir is the first sitting African President to be indicted by the International Criminal Court [ICC] for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide allegedly committed in the war torn Darfur region of western Sudan.

On Saturday 27^th November, former South African President Thabo Mbeki had thrown whatever is left of his political weight behind calls to allow President Bashir to attend the 3rd Africa-European Union (EU) summit.

“…There is the summit meeting of the African Union and the European Union in Libya.  President Bashir has to go there for that summit which will be followed immediately by the summit meeting of the ‘Peace and Security Council’ of the African Union”, Mbeki had said.

The former President had made the remarks to reporters after concluding a meeting with President Bashir and his Vice President Salva Kiir.  The meeting had been organised to discuss possible ways of resolving the sticking issues hanging over the disputed oil rich region of Abyei.

Other than Mbeki, last year, other African Union heads of state had also voted not to cooperate with the ICC indictments.  Since then, President Bashir has visited Kenya and Chad, both of them court members.

Bashir’s attendance at the Libya summit would have caused a huge embarrassment to the EU delegates whose countries are the major ideological and financial backers of the International Criminal Court.

The EU recently blasted authorities in Kenya and Chad for allowing Bashir to visit their countries in spite of their obligation to apprehend him and hand him over to the ICC.  END. Please log into www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.