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                    AU Head Mugabe: ICC Unwelcome in Africa

   by Associated Press

   Zimbabwean leader and African Union chairman Robert Mugabe on Tuesday
   harshly criticized the International Criminal Court after Sudan's
   president dodged an international arrest order by leaving early from a
   meeting of the continent's leaders in South Africa, a news agency
   reported.
   Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir arrived in Khartoum, Sudan, on Monday
   from South Africa, where a court instructed that he be arrested, but
   after his plane had left with him aboard. Al-Bashir is wanted by the
   International Criminal Court for war crimes allegations linked to the
   conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.

   The African News Agency, which is based in South Africa, quoted Mugabe
   as saying at the late-night close of an African Union summit in
   Johannesburg that the International Criminal Court is not wanted in
   Africa.

   "This is not the headquarters of the ICC; we don't want it in this
   region at all,'' said Mugabe, who is chairing the 54-member African
   Union for one year. "There is a view that we should withdraw from the
   ICC . Unfortunately, the treaty that set up the court was not signed by
   the AU, but by individual countries.''

   South Africa is a signatory to the statute that set up the
   international court. But some African leaders say the court has
   unfairly targeted African heads of state and the African Union said
   delegates to the summit in Johannesburg had immunity.

   According to Mugabe, South African President Jacob Zuma said "he would
   not allow'' police to arrest al-Bashir, the African News Agency
   reported.

   A spokesman for Zuma's office referred questions about al-Bashir to
   government spokeswoman Phumla Williams. Williams was not immediately
   available on Tuesday, a national holiday in South Africa.

   Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the African Union's chief executive, said
   al-Bashir was a regular presence at AU summits "anywhere in the
   continent.''

   James Stewart, deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court,
   said South Africa had been legally obligated to detain al-Bashir for
   trial in The Hague.

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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/au-head-mugabe-international-court-un
   welcome-in-africa/2824310.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/au-head-mugabe-international-court-unwelcome-in-africa/2824310.html