Military council: The Sudanese people will decide the fate of al-Bashir

SNAA, April 16 (YPA) – Sudan’s Transitional Military Council has said on Tuesday that the civilian government, which is to assume power in the future, will decide on the possible extradition of former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

This means that the transitional government itself will not make a decision on the matter during its mandate.

Jalal al-Din al-Tayeb, a member of the Transitional Military Council, said that “the decision to extradite al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court will be taken by a popularly elected government, not by the Transitional Military Council,” according to the Sudanese newspaper Alrakoba.

Al-Bashir is reportedly subject to two international arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court in 2009 and 2010 for “genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes” committed in the Darfur region between 2003 and 2008. However, while Sudan did originally sign the Rome Statute that formed the ICC in 1998, it has since withdrawn itself from the organisation and as such is no longer legally bound to its rules.

The Military Transitional Council had announced earlier that it has refused to extradite al-Bashir or any other Sudanese citizen to any international body, and noted that it is the Sudanese people who determine the extradition of al-Bashir to international organisations.

The African Union organisation, based in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, has threatened to suspend Khartoum’s membership if the transitional military Council does not hand over power to civilians within 15 days.

During his visit, Jalal al-Din al-Tayeb called on the African Union and the international community to support the Council in overcoming the political and economic difficulties in Sudan.

E.M