Bashir Not Invited To AU Summit

“President Yoweri Museveni has disclosed that his Sudanese counterpart General Omar al-Bashir has not been invited to attend the African Union Conference,” a statement from the presidency said.

Museveni made the disclosure on Friday during a meeting with ICC president Sang-Hung Song, who is in Kampala for the court’s ongoing review conference.

Sudan is free to send other government representatives to the summit, the statement said.

The announcement marks a change from Uganda’s previous conduct regarding al-Bashir.

Last year, in the weeks preceding an international conference, Uganda invited al-Bashir to Kampala and refused to commit to arresting him if he accepted.

That invitation prompted a last minute visit to Kampala by ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo.

At a joint news conference with Uganda’s deputy foreign minister, Ocampo assured the media that al-Bashir would be arrested if he visited Kampala because Uganda is a member of the ICC.

However, state minister for foreign affairs Okello Oryem refused to give the same assurance.

Days later, Uganda issued a statement encouraging al-Bashir not to accept the invitation.

Al-Bashir is wanted by the ICC for war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region.  AFP