ICC refers Uganda, Djibouti to UN for failure to arrest Sudan’s Al-Bashir

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The International Criminal Court said on Tuesday it had referred the governments of Uganda and Djibouti to the UN Security Council for failing to arrest Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashir while he was on their territory.

Al-Bashir is wanted by the court on suspicion of masterminding atrocities including genocide in the breakaway Darfur region of Sudan.

Uganda and Djibouti, as members of the war crimes court, are obliged to carry out its arrest warrants, though other African states including South Africa have failed to arrest Al-Bashir under similar circumstances.

The Security Council, which referred the Darfur case to the ICC in 2005, has the power to sanction Uganda and Djibouti over the matter.