The Government Spokesperson, Ofwono Opondo has tasked the International Community to withdraw their diplomatic representation in Sudan before asking African countries to arrest Sudan’s President Omar Bashir and hand him over to the International Criminal Court.
Opondo made the call yesterday while speaking to Chimpreports at the sidelines of the swearing-in ceremony of President Yoweri Museveni at the Kololo Independence Grounds in Kampala.
At the event, President Yoweri Museveni raised eyebrows when he openly attacked The Hague based ICC, daubing it ‘useless.’
“Our Brother El Bashir is here with us today. The ICC is none of our business. It is a useless body,” Museveni said to a cheering crowd.
He added, “We used to support the ICC thinking they were serious but they are just a bunch of useless people.”
Opondo told us that Uganda has no obligation at all to apprehend the Sudan’s President for the ICC and they saw no reason not to invite him for the grand occasion.
“Let the western countries first withdraw their diplomatic representation from Sudan. We see that engaging with Bashir is better than isolating him, we have not arrested him and we assure you that he will go back safely to his country,” Opondo said.
“We earlier communicated our invitation of President Bashir, we have expressed our intentions not to cooperate with ICC on the cases of sitting Heads of State, we have been firm and public with Bashir, Uhuru Kenyata and his deputy, so this shouldn’t be a surprise at all,” Opondo noted.
“We are sending a signal to the ICC that they are working through impunity and superficial methods cannot guarantee them respect from the Ugandan community,” Opondo added.
Earlier on Thursday, the global rights body Human Rights Watch had called for the immediate arrest of President Bashir when news came out that he was attending the Kololo function.
His presence and later on President Museveni’s disparaging comments about the ICC and foreign powers would later compel a number of foreign envoys to walk out as the president gave his speech.
Mr. Opondo told Chimpreports that working closely with Bashir has help to restore peace in Somalia, South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).