Sudanese Leader Wanted by ICC to Skip Summit in South Africa

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir will not be at a summit in South Africa next week, nearly six months after he left the country during a dispute between the Pretoria government and the judiciary, which had ordered he be detained until it reviewed his indictment for alleged war crimes.

News reports on Thursday said South Africa and China had asked Bashir not to attend the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Johannesburg on 4-5 December, while a spokesman apparently said Bashir was busy with politics in his home country.

Sudan will be represented at the summit by Vice President Bakri Hassan Saleh.

In June Bashir – who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity – left South Africa while attending an African Union summit. The South African government let him leave, in defiance of a High Court order that he should be detained, pending a court decision on whether he should be arrested.