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South Africa argues in court against Bashir's arrest
Leaders of the AU stand during the opening of the 25th African Union summit in Johannesburg, June 14, 2015. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko
By Dinky Mkhize
15/06/2015
PRETORIA (Reuters) - South Africa will on Monday argue against a court application to force the government to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court, the justice ministry said.
Bashir, who is in South Africa attending an African Union summit, stands accused in an ICC arrest warrant of war crimes and crimes against humanity over atrocities committed in the Darfur conflict.
Judge Hans Fabricius on Sunday barred Bashir from leaving South Africa until he had made a decision on an application by a human rights group calling for Bashir's arrest.
The judge's hearing resumed at 0930 GMT on Monday but was adjourned for an hour so the court could study documents submitted by the state.
State advocate William Mokhari said "to the best of our knowledge" Bashir remained in South Africa, although he said five ports of exit had yet to confirm they had received an order not to allow the Sudanese leader to leave.
Caroline James, the lawyer for rights group the Southern African Litigation Centre, said she believed there was a "real risk" Bashir would soon leave the country and the application for his arrest would become "mute".
South Africa's government has challenged the court's decision because it has given immunity to Bashir and all other delegates attending the AU summit.
"We will meticulously argue for the application to be dismissed," Mthunzi Mhaga, spokesman for the justice ministry, told local television station ENCA.
Sudan officials have said the court order had "no value" because Bashir was invited by the South African government and said the president would leave on Monday.
"President Bashir is still in Johannesburg but we are leaving South Africa today," Mohamed Hatem told Reuters.
The conflict in Darfur has killed as many as 300,000 people and displaced 2 million, the United Nations says.
South Africa on Sunday slammed the ICC for unfairly focusing its indictments on African leaders and said the Hague court was "no longer useful".
Pretoria's furious response has put South Africa on a collision course with Western leaders as the U.S. State Department and the United Nations criticized President Jacob Zuma's government.
"The International Criminal Court’s warrant for the arrest of President al-Bashir on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes is a matter I take extremely seriously," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters in Geneva.
"The authority of the ICC must be respected and its decision implemented," Ban added.
South Africa is an ICC signatory and therefore obliged to implement arrest warrants but the ruling African National Congress has said it wants the court's statutes to be reviewed to ensure a "fair and independent court".
The ICC issued arrest warrants for Bashir in 2009 and 2010. He has long rejected the court's authority.
(Additional reporting by Peroshni Govender in Johannesburg, Tom Miles in Geneva and Khalid Abdelaziz in Khartoum; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Crispian Balmer)
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