Sudan’s Bashir Visits Ghana despite ICC Arrest Threat

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has visited Ghana despite a threat by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to arrest him for genocide in Darfur. Bashir is in Accra to attend a meeting of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) leaders, whose revolving presidency he currently holds. Speaking at the forum’s opening, Bashir declared that any such indictment against him would derail the Darfur peace talks, and went ahead to rally the ACP group into issuing a declaration in his support. Last July, ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo applied for Bashir’s arrest to answer 10 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. Ghana, as an ICC signatory, has the mandate to arrest him and hand him over to the ICC. [PE]