EU urges Chad to arrest visiting Sudanese president

EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton urged Chad on Thursday to arrest Sudan's visiting President Omar al-Beshir and hand him over to an international court to face genocide charges.

Reuters

Ashton "urges Chad to respect its obligations under international law to
arrest and surrender those indicted by the ICC (International Criminal Court)," her press office said in a statement.

She said Chad was a signatory of the Rome Statute, the founding document of the ICC, obliging it to arrest any person on its territory wanted by the court.

Ashton's office did not indicate whether the EU could act against Chad if it did not meet her request.

Beshir is in Chad to take part in a conference Thursday of the Community of Sahel-Saharan States.

The purpose of his visit, according to Beshir, is to open a new chapter in relations between Chad and Sudan. “We are in a new phase of the history of our two countries, in the interests of our two peoples,” he said.

The visit is his first to a country which recognises the ICC which has warrants out for his arrest.

Two arrest warrants have been issued by the ICC for Beshir. Both relate to atrocities committed in Darfur in Sudan. The first was issued in 2009 on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The second, issued earlier this month, extended those charges to genocide.

Chad’s Interior Minister Ahmat Mahamat Bachir, however, told AFP “What country has ever arrested a sitting head of state? Beshir won’t be arrested in Chad.” “Chad is a sovereign and independent state….we are not dependent on the injunctions of international organisations,” he continued.