President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan arrived for a three-day visit in Uganda on Monday, defying an international Criminal Court arrest warrant against him.
The ICC issued arrest warrants for al-Bashir in 2009 and 2010 on charges of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity in the Sudanese region of Darfur.
Uganda is not planning to arrest al-Bashir, in spite being a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the ICC, Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni’s press secretary, Don Wannyama, said.
Wannyama said: “Uganda’s position is that the arrest warrant is uncalled for, which is the position of the African Union.
“Our position is that Africa can solve its own problems.’’
Al-Bashir and Museveni were meeting to hold bi-lateral talks on the issues of trade, regional security and migration, according to the press secretary.
It is al-Bashir’s second visit to the East African nation since the warrants were issued.
In May 2016, the Sudanese leader attended a re-election ceremony held for Museveni.
Other African nations, including South Africa, have ignored the ICC’s demands to detain al-Bashir.
In July, the ICC ruled that South Africa violated its rules when failing to arrest al-Bashir during his visit to Johannesburg in 2015.
The court did not, however, refer the case to the UN Security Council, saying that would not foster cooperation with South Africa.
