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December 9, 2013 (WASHINGTON) - The Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir will not be travelling to South Africa to participate in the memorial service for former president Nelson Mandela’s who passed away last week.

U.S. President Barack Obama (L) is welcomed upon his arrival on Air Force One to attend a memorial service for Nelson Mandela at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg December 10, 2013 (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

The newly appointed 1st Vice President Bakri Hassan Saleh who was sworn in this week will represent Sudan at this event according to a list released by South Africa’s International Relations and Cooperation Department.

A spokesman for the Sudanese embassy confirmed to South Africa’s Sunday Independent newspaper that President Bashir would not be coming to avoid any complications associated with his indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

According to South African officials, there were no invitations sent out to world governments for the funeral but it is up to each country to decide who to dispatch.

The event is expected to be one of the largest gatherings bringing together heads of state and top officials from all over the world including former ones.

Among the 59 heads of state expected to attend is US president Barack Obama who will also be joined by his predecessors George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

Bashir faces two outstanding arrest warrants issued by ICC judges on ten counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide allegedly committed in Sudan’s western region of Darfur.

South Africa is a signatory to the Rome Statute which forms the basis of the ICC and is therefore obliged to arrest the Sudanese head of state.

Even though several African countries that are ICC members have received Bashir without arresting him, legal experts point out that South Africa is one of few countries that have domesticated the Rome Statute into its national laws.

As a result, the apprehension of the Sudanese leader becomes a requirement imposed by local South African laws that the executive branch cannot overrule.

In the past South African officials have made statements indicating that they have no option but to arrest Bashir should he set foot on their territory.

Nonetheless South Africa has backed all African Union (AU) resolutions calling for suspending the arrest warrant against Bashir and ordering member states not to cooperate with the ICC in this regard.

Furthermore, Johannesburg has lent its support to AU decision last October which stated that a sitting African heads of state should not be prosecuted which was meant to address the Kenyan situation at the ICC by which president Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto are facing trial.
(ST)