South African President Jacob Zuma under pressure to arrest his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Bashir

NEW DELHI: South African President Jacob Zuma and his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Bashir, both participating at the Indo-Africa Summit here, may have their task cut out when they return to the continent with the International Criminal Court (ICC) once again raising the red flag over al-Bashir’s alleged human rights violation record and asking Johannesburg to arrest him if he returns to South Africa.

ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda had recently asked ICC Judges to assert South Africa’s obligation to arrest al-Bashir if he returns to the country. She also called for a timeframe by when South Africa can explain the circumstances under which al-Bashir was allowed to leave South Africa earlier this year despite an arrest warrant against him by the court. This June, Al-Bashir attended the African Union Summit in South Africa which is signatory to ICC statute unlike India. This enabled India to invite al-Bashir for the Summit.

An international warrant was issued against Bashir by the ICC while he was attending the African Union Summit. He is wanted by the court for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity over the conflict in Darfur, but he managed to fly out of Pretoria despite a court order blocking his departure. There has been talk of al-Bashir returning to South Africa for the Forum of China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) meeting to be held in South Africa in December.

Zuma has indicated that Sudan would be part of the meeting but did not indicate whether al-Bashir would attend. Meanwhile, in what would be shot in the arm for the Zuma government, the ruling African National Congress in South Africa resolved earlier this month that South Africa should withdraw from the ICC.

But this would take time and if that happens India has consistently opposed the Hague-based ICC, officials here said.