Today, Omar al-Bashir, President of Sudan, is wanted by the International Criminal Court for the world’s worse crimes and is currently in South Africa for an AU Summit. As a member state and signatory to the Rome Statue, South Africa is legally obligated to arrest al-Bashir and surrender him to the ICC.

Now a South African court has issued an interim order on Sunday preventing Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir from leaving the country, where he was attending an African Union summit, until a judge hears an application calling for his arrest.

However the President of South Africa may try to turn a blind eye which will not only deny justice for the victims of genocide in Darfur but will also violate the South African constitution and domestic laws.

But if we speak louder and demand his arrest we may be able to convince the South African government to uphold their legal obligations.

Please join me, the millions of Darfuri genocide victims and the Sudanese people who have been brutalized for years by this regime to call on the South African Government to not allow the autocratic fugitive to defy international and domestic law. President al-Bashir’s place is not at international forums, his right place must be behind the bars in the Hague based court, the ICC

Why it Matters

President Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.  He has perpetrated the ongoing atrocities in Darfur where hundreds of thousands have died since 2003 and millions remain displaced.  In 2014 alone, approximately half a million people have been newly displaced in Darfur, and projections for 2015 are even worse. The crimes in Darfur continue to rage, and violence has spread into other areas of Sudan, including South Kordofan and Blue Nile.  Bashir has continuously blocked humanitarian aid from getting to those in need, and many people are at risk of starvation. Bashir has been able to continue his reign of terror with impunity for more than twelve years, and it is time to bring justice to his victims. 

Bashir ‘s trip to South Africa for an AU Summit represents a great opportunity for the implementation of the ICC arrest warrant. A South African court recently issued an interim order stopping him from leaving the country. The ICC has called on South Africa to arrest the genocidal criminal so that he can face the charges against him. Please sign out petition to demand the government of South Africa to abide by its domestic and international legal obligations and arrest Omar al-Bashir!