15
Oct
Despite International Criminal Court (ICC) declaring Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, one of the invitees at the high-profile India-Africa Summit, a “war criminal” and having issued two warrants, India will go ahead and host him during the upcoming event from October 26 here as it is under no obligation to arrest him.
Bashir, who is wanted by the ICC for alleged genocide and war crimes in Darfur conflict and against whom two arrest warrants were issued in 2009 and 2010, is among the 54 heads of state in Africa invited for the third India-Africa Summit (IAFS). Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s special envoy and Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh invited al-Bashir on September 19 in Khartoum for the event.
Though, ICC has not officially written to India asking it to arrest Bashir but the international court expects that India should contribute towards the goal of accountability for the “world’s worst crimes” by arresting Bashir.
When asked about India’s position, Spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry Vikas Swarup said, “India is fully compliant with its international legal obligations.”
However, since India is not party to the Rome Statute that created the ICC, which is an independent international court, New Delhi is not expected to oblige it by arresting Bashir.
According to sources, India has “no legal or statutory requirement to arrest President Bashir. We are not signatories to the Rome Statute.”
ICC has indicted Bashir for war crimes and genocide during the Darfur conflict in 2003 in which lakhs of casualties were reported.
In June this year, Bashir had travelled to South Africa for an African Union Summit chaired by Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe but despite ICC’s call to arrest him, that government allowed him to fly out, inviting severe criticism by the Hague-based court.