Sudanese troops reportedly surrounded South African peacekeepers in Darfur while a court was considering an urgent application in Pretoria to seize President Omar al Bashir and turn him over to the International Criminal Court that wants to try him for genocide in the conflict-ravaged Western province.
The Sudanese troops withdrew when Bashir, who dodged a court order that he be prevented from leaving South Africa, was on a flight home to Khartoum.
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Pretoria’s judge president Dunstan Mlambo says President Omar Al Bashir defiance of the court order is unconstitutional.
He’s given the State seven days to provide an affidavit explaining when, where and how Bashir got away.
The Southern African Litigation Centre, that brought the urgent action seeking Bashir’s detention, plans to initiate a private prosecution against the South African government for contempt of court.
Pikkie Greef, the general secretary of the South African National Defence Union says government must respond decisively to Sudan blackmailing South African troops in Darfur by threatening an act of war if their president was arrested in Johannesburg.
At Sudan’s insistence, the South African contingent is the most lightly armed in the United Nations/ African Union Mission in Darfur known as UNAMID.
Military analysts say South Africa should pull their peacekeepers out of Darfur – although this would be playing into Bashir’s hands