Sirte, July 04: The African Union on Friday decided not to cooperate with a war crimes warrant against Sudan President Omar al-Beshir and again appealed to the United Nations to delay the case.
"The conference decided not to cooperate in that field," the top AU official Jean Ping told reporters.
The summit decision effectively allows Beshir to travel across Africa without fear of arrest under the warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The text was backed by Libyan leader and current AU chief Muammar Gaddafi, who has said the ICC represents a "new world terrorism", and won support from many countries who felt the court was unfairly targeting Africans.
Thirty African states have signed the Rome statutes creating the court, and have treaty obligations to arrest Beshir if he travels on their territory.
But the text adopted at the summit voices frustration felt by many African nations who say the UN Security Council ignored an early AU resolution calling for a one-year delay to the indictment.
"They are showing to the world community that if you don't want to listen to the continent, if you don't want to take into account our proposals... if you don't want to listen to the continent, as usual, we also are going to act unilaterally," Ping said.
The UN Security Council can ask the court, via a resolution, to suspend investigations or prosecutions for 12 months, under Article 16 of the Rome Statute. The stay can be renewed.
Ghana's Foreign Minister Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni said many nations felt the Security Council's failure to consider the proposal amounted to a "slap" to Africa.
"We thought that as Africans, and having a clear understanding and a clear interest in the interest of peace in the Sudan and in Darfur, we thought that was a matter (where) the Security Council should have listened to Africa, at the very minimum," he said.
The decision to ignore the ICC warrant had strong support from Libya and other repressive countries that sympathise with Sudan, but even advocates of the court have worried that arresting Beshir could create a power vacuum in Khartoum that would hinder the country's peace process.
A 22-year civil war in southern Sudan only ended in 2005, in what had been Africa's longest civil war. Elections are now planned in February and a historic independence referendum is due in 2011.
Bureau Report