News Article by REUTERS posted on September 24, 2008 at 13:26:19: EST (-5 GMT)
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Ghana "unlikely" to arrest Sudan's Bashir at summit ACCRA, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Ghana is unlikely to arrest Sudan's president at a summit next week even if the International Criminal Court issues a warrant for his arrest for genocide, a Ghanaian government source said on Wednesday. The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) accuses President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of genocide and war crimes in Sudan's western Darfur region and asked the court's judges in July to issue an arrest warrant against him. Their decision is widely expected by the end of the year and Bashir has not since travelled to a country that has ratified the treaty creating the ICC. But officials said on Tuesday he will travel to Ghana, which has ratified the ICC treaty, for a meeting of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) leaders on Oct. 1-3. "I don't think he will be arrested if he comes to Ghana. It is unlikely because there are lots of issues involved which we must consider, apart from our own interest," said a Ghanaian government source who declined to be identified. "First of all the issue of Bashir's indictment is inconclusive because there are various discussions still going on. For example the position of the Africa Union, which thinks that the issue could be handled differently. I believe Ghana will not ignore this position and jump the gun," the source said. ICC officials said on Tuesday that if its judges did issue an arrest warrant during Bashir's visit, Ghana as a "state party" of the court would be bound to arrest him, but the government source said that would not happen. "In the event of Ghana not arresting him, it should not be as if we are condoning the reported atrocities he is alleged to have committed against his own people ... No, far from this, but the continent's leaders, as well as other bodies, believe justice could be obtained through home-grown mechanisms." The source said Bashir had a "credibility problem" because of the allegations, noting that in 2006, well before the ICC accusations, fellow African leaders had rejected Bashir's bid to assume the revolving chair of the African Union. "He is not the most popular guy among his peer group right now," the source said. The African Union, Arab League and other alliances have urged the Security Council to use its powers under Article 16 of the ICC statute to freeze any proceedings against Bashir to avoid shattering a fragile peace process in Darfur. African Union peacekeepers in Darfur are due to transfer to a joint U.N.-African Union force to help stop fighting that international experts estimate has killed 200,000 people and driven more than 2.5 million from their homes since 2003. Khartoum says such estimates are exaggerated, and puts the death toll at 10,000. |