written by Adam Wakefield and Jenni Evans
Sunday June 14, 2015
Johannesburg - Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has left South Africa and is returning to Khartoum, Bloomberg reported on Sunday.
"The president finished his business in South Africa and is coming back home," Sudanese Information Minister Ahmed Bilal Osman told Bloomberg by phone.
"Al-Bashir went to South Africa with complete guarantees that it will respect the African position regarding the ICC."
Al-Bashir's reported departure came against an order by the High Court in Pretoria made earlier on Sunday barring the Sudanese president from leaving the country.
The report of al-Bashir's departure has yet to be independently verified by News24.
Justice department spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga told News24: "We are not aware of that. I've just heard it in the media".
The international relations department directed queries to spokesperson Clayson Monyela, whose phone went straight to voice mail. The home affairs department said earlier on Sunday that queries should be directed to the justice department.
Judge Hans Fabricius had ordered that the home affairs department ensure that all points of entry and exit be informed that al-Bashir is not allowed to leave until the SA Litigation Centre's (SALC) application that South Africa arrest him is concluded.
Following Fabricius' order, justice department spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga said South Africa would take reasonable steps to ensure that officials at all points of entry and exit were told of the court order.
''In so far is practically possible reasonable steps will be taken to comply with the interim order given the fact that we will now be preparing our arguments for the main argument tomorrow on the substantive issues,'' Mhaga said outside court.
The SALC had applied for South Africa to enforce two warrants for al-Bashir's arrest issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2009 and 2010 relating to alleged war crimes and genocide. It said that on Saturday the ICC ruled that diplomatic immunity did not apply to heads of state wanted for trial and issued a plea to South Africa to arrest him to stand trial.
The application started after 11:00 on Sunday with officials hastily brought to court in Pretoria, but the government said it was not ready because of the short notice, having received papers at around 10:30.
It asked for an adjournment, but the SALC, fearing that al-Bashir would leave in the meantime, obtained an interim order preventing his departure.
Nomidic Arab tribes called the Janjaweed (in Sudanese province of Darfur since 12th century from Arabian Peninsula) form an alliance with a group of powerful Arab North Sudanese merchants called the Jellaba. The Jellaba runs an extensive slavery ring of non-Arab Africans and exploits the Sudanese soil for its raw materials.
The Arab Janjaweed and Jellaba consider themselves racially and ethnically superior to the Africans of Sudan, justifying their involvement in the slave-trade of black Africans.
Sudan Famine 1985-2003
Terrible drought hits Sudan resulting in severe famine. Janjaweed Arab militias (15% of Darfur population) relentlessly attack farms and villages of Sudanese Africans, depriving them of water and provisions. Pillaging, raping and killing are common. Africans are treated as second-class citizens.
Sudan 1989-2003: Muslim Brotherhood In Power
Muslim Brotherhood led by Al Bashir take over government by force. He works closely with Osama Bin Laden. Persecution of non-Arab Sudanese by Janjaweed militia worsens under Al Bashir, and increasingly takes on the tone of racially motivated ethnic cleansing.
1989 Osama in Sudan
Osama Bin Laden, founder of Al Qaeda, leaves Afghanistan for Saudi Arabia. Then continues on to Khartoum, Sudan. He works with Al Zahawiri and Al-Bashir of Muslim Brotherhood.
1989 Two Million Christians murdered (Muslim Brotherhood) Millions More Are Starved by Jihad Forces
Muslim Brotherhood stages pro-Islamic coup in Sudan under ideological leadership of Hassan al-Turabi. Democracy ended. Thirteen devastating years of famine and civil war follow. Sudanese Jihad militia (the Janjaweed) prevents abundant food supplies from reaching starving Sudanese population. Millions of Sudanese die from disease and malnutrition.
Hassan al-Bashir of Muslim Brotherhood leads the devastation.
Two million (2,000,000) Christian Sudanese murdered by Hassan al-Bashir’s Wahhabi Jihad (Holy War) since 1989.
Jihad is heavily sponsored by Saudi Oil.
1996 Al Qaeda From Sudan to Afghanistan to the World
Bin Laden leaves Sudan under US pressure on Sudanese government. He returns to Pakistan and is transferred back to Afghanistan under the direct supervision of General Pervez Musharraf, then high ranking military figure. Osama Bin Laden gathers all the remaining Mujahedeen (‘Holy Islamic Warriors’) from the Afghan War. He finds refuge with the oppressive Taliban regime and rekindles connections with jihad mercenaries from Chechnya, Dagestan, Xinjiang of China, the Southern Philipines, North Africa and the Middle East. International Jihad takes shape.
1996 Al Qaeda From Sudan to Afghanistan to the World
Bin Laden leaves Sudan under US pressure on Sudanese government. He returns to Pakistan and is transferred back to Afghanistan under the direct supervision of General Pervez Musharraf, then high ranking military figure. Osama Bin Laden gathers all the remaining Mujahedeen (‘Holy Islamic Warriors’) from the Afghan War. He finds refuge with the oppressive Taliban regime and rekindles connections with jihad mercenaries from Chechnya, Dagestan, Xinjiang of China, the Southern Philipines, North Africa and the Middle East. International Jihad takes shape.
China, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia et al help to keep him in power buying Sudanese oil and other natural resources. (emphasis mine)
Lieutenant General Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir is the President of Sudan and the head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi.
In October 2005, al-Bashir's government negotiated an end to the Second Sudanese Civil War, one of the longest-running and deadliest wars of the 20th century, by granting limited autonomy to Southern Sudan dominated by the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). Since then, however, there has been a violent conflict in Darfur that has resulted in death tolls between 200,000 and 400,000 [More like 2 million and still counting! (emphasis mine)]. During his presidency, there have been several violent struggles between the Janjaweed militia and rebel groups such as the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) in the form of guerrilla warfare in the Darfur region. The civil war has displaced over 2.5 million people out of a total population of 6.2 million in Darfur and has created a crisis in the diplomatic relations between Sudan and Chad.
Al-Bashir is a controversial figure both in Sudan and worldwide. In July 2008, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno Ocampo, accused al-Bashir of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. The court issued an arrest warrant for al-Bashir on 4 March 2009 on counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, but ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him for genocide. However, on 12 July 2010, after a lengthy appeal by the prosecution, the Court held that there was indeed sufficient evidence for charges of genocide to be brought and issued a second warrant containing three separate counts. The new warrant, as with the first, will be delivered to the Sudanese government, which is unlikely to execute it.Al-Bashir was the first sitting head of state indicted by the ICC. The court's decision is opposed by the African Union, League of Arab States, Non-Aligned Movement, and the governments of Russia and China. A leak from WikiLeaks allegedly reveals that the Sudanese president had embezzled state funds amounting to US$ 9 billion, to which the Lloyd's Bank of England later rejected as "Lloyds insisted it was not aware of any link with Bashir."
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