UN May Sanction Nigeria for Al-Bashir's Visit

NIGERIA may be sanctioned by the United Nations for the visit of the Sudanese President, Omar al-Bashir, to the country.

The International Criminal Court, The Hague, said on Tuesday, that it might report Nigeria to the UN Security Council for possible sanction over its failure to arrest al-Bashir, during his visit to the country.This came even as the European Union maintained on Tuesday that UN member states, including Nigeria, a state which is a party to Rome Statute, should abide by and implement the UN resolutions.

Al-Bashir cut short his visit to Nigeria and abruptly left on Monday amid calls for his arrest by groups and activists.

ICC said it had on Monday sent official request to Nigeria, demanding the arrest of al-Bashir to enforce the international arrest warrants issued on him since 2009. The ICC issued the warrants on March 4, 2009 and July 12, 2010, after indicting him for crime against humanity in the Darfur crisis.

An ICC spokesman, Fadi El-Abdallah, was quoted by Financial Times as saying that the three judges trying Bashir’s case might have to ask the UN Security Council to sanction Nigeria for violating its commitments as a signatory to the court’s founding treaty.

El-Abdallah said, “The judges have asked the court’s registry to prepare a report on Mr Bashir’s visit to Nigeria. After that it is up to them to decide whether to refer it to the Security Council.”

The Sudanese leader had arrived in Nigeria on Sunday to attend an African Union summit on HIV/AIDs, tuberculosis and malaria, which was to end on Tuesday, but left abruptly on Monday.

But spokesman for Sudanese Embassy in Nigeria, Mohammed Moiz, told The Washington Post that his country’s head left to fulfil other engagements.

Barely 24 hours after his arrival, a coalition of Non-Governmental Organisations approached a Federal High Court in Abuja to compel the Federal Government to enforce the ICC warrant for Al-Bashir’s  arrest.

Meanwhile, a group under the aegis of Nigeria’s on International Court of Justice on Tuesday protested against the country’s failure to arrest al-Bashir. The peaceful protest held within the premises of the International Conference Centre in Abuja, where the AU summit held.

The Chairman (steering committee) of NCICJ, Mr. Chima Obiagwu, who led placard-carrying members of the group, condemned the reception accorded to al-Bashir by the Nigerian government.

A human rights group, PEN Nigeria Centre, described al-Bashir’s visit as “nothing but an insult on Nigerians as well as an indictment of the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.”

The group’s Secretary-General, Ropo Ewenla, said Nigeria, as party to the Rome Statue, was bound to execute the arrest warrants issued by the ICC against al-Bashir, when he was within its jurisdiction.

EU High Representative, Catherine Ashton, stressed in her statement the need for member states to abide by and implement the resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.