AU halts war crimes co-operation

The African Union is ending its co-operation with the International Criminal Court after it charged Sudan’s president with war crimes.

Omar al-Bashir is accused over alleged atrocities in the Darfur region. Reports from an AU meeting in Libya said the delegates agreed a statement saying they would not co-operate in the “arrest and surrender” of Mr Bashir. The Sudanese government has been fighting rebels in Darfur since 2003, amid repeated claims of war crimes.

The AU statement pointed out that its request to the ICC to defer Mr Bashir’s indictment had been ignored.

It went on: “The AU member states shall not co-operate… relating to immunities for the arrest and surrender of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to the ICC.”

AFP news agency reports that there was dissent on the decision, with Benin’s Foreign Minister Jean-Marie Ehouzou saying that Sudan’s neighbour Chad had objected to the wording.

Thirty African states have signed the statutes that created the ICC and so have certain treaty obligations.

However, analysts say the ruling effectively allows Mr Bashir freedom of travel in Africa without fear of arrest.

BBC.