The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands has written to the Government of Uganda, demanding for an explanation as to why it refused to fulfill one of its obligations as spelt out the Rome Statute (2002), to which it is a signatory.
Part of the letter seen By Chimpreports seeks answers as to why Uganda refused to arrest Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir who was in the country on May 12 during the inauguration ceremony of President Yoweri Museveni.
President Omar is wanted by the court for the crimes he committed in his country in which thousands of natives were massacred in the early 2000s.
In the Darfur Massacre as it came to be known which started in 2003, the Sudan’s armed militias are said to have orchestrated mass murders of local people, burnt their houses, raped women and tortured young ones. About 500,000 are said to have lost lives in the genocide.
President Bashir who was indicted by the ICC however, flew into Uganda for the swearing in ceremony of his colleague in Kampala, amidst complaint by foreign rights bodies and countries.
In a letter dated March 27th, three judges of The Hague based court asked “the competent authorities of the Ugandan government to submit their observations in respect to their failure to surrender” the Sudanese President.
The judges, Cuno Tarfusser, Marc Perrin de Brichambaut and Chang Ho Chung gave Government of Uganda up to June 24th to have submitted its response.
At the Kololo event, while referring to Bashir’s visit, President Yoweri Museveni lashed out at the international tribunal, daubing it “a bunch of useless people.”
His comments irked a number of envoys from the European Union, Canada and the United states, who immediately stormed out of the venue.