By Tom Mugisha, tom.mugisha@alleastafrica.com
KAMPALA – The International Crimes Division of the High Court (ICD) was set hear an application seeking to arrest Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmad Al- Bashir if he ever visits Uganda again.
The Sudanese leader left Uganda on Tuesday after three-day state visit amidst calls by European Union, human rights activists have to have arrested for international arrest warrants issued against him by the International Criminal Court in 2009 and 2012 for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur.
The application was filed on Tuesday by Uganda victims Foundation, a civil society organisation. Justice Moses Mukiibi was expected to hear the application at 2:30pm.
The applicants want the Attorney General William Byaruhanga and justice minister, Gen Kahinda Otafiire to respond.
The petitioner contends that since Uganda is a signatory to the Rome Statute, it has the obligation to arrest Mr Bashir and hand him over to the ICC for prosecution.
The civil society also wants court to issue a declaration that the failure by the attorney general and the justice minister to arrest President Bashir in May last year when he came to attend President Museveni’s swearing-in ceremony, was inconsistent with Sections 2 (a) (b) and (e) of the International Criminal Court Act and against Articles 89 (1) of the Rome Statute and also in breach of United Nations Security Council.
“The respondents should be ordered to effect the said warrant of arrest when and whenever the said Omar Hassan Ahmad Al- Bashir, the President of the Republic of Sudan sets foot within the Republic of Uganda,” the application reads.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, President Museveni held “private” discussions with the visiting Sudanese president Omar-al-Bashir at his Kisozi farm in Gomba District, central Uganda.
During the meeting, Linda Nabusayi, the President’s press secretary, said on her Twitter, that the duo also discussed the River Nile cooperation, including industrialisation and electrification as one of the ways to save the river.
