African Union Summit
Posted by alejandro on 05 08 2010 | Comments
African Union leaders consider increasing military force and discuss ICC International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir on war crime charges.
Just a few minutes away from a blast that killed 76 people in Uganda earlier this month, delegates in the African Union debate increasing the role of the organization’s military force.
The African Union (AU) will likely remove the cap on the number of troops in AMISOM, but probably will not get permission to attack al-Shabaab in Somalia, which claimed responsibility for the blast.
[Jean Ping, African Union Commission Chairman]
“We need additional equipment adapted to the new mandate into attack instead of defence. So we need this equipment and we have asked for five helicopters already for that.”
The summit also addressed the ICC International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on war crimes charges.
President of Malawi and current chairman of the AU Bingu wa Mutharika says the warrant undermines African solidarity.
[Bingu wa Mutharika, President of Malawi and AU Chairperson]
“The issuance of a warrant of arrest for his excellency al-Bashir, a duly elected president of the Sudan, is a violation of the principles of sovereignty. To subject a sovereign head of state to a warrant of arrest is undermining African solidarity and African peace and security that we fought for, for so many years.”
African countries are divided about whether they should arrest al-Bashir.
Some African leaders say the ICC is obsessed with prosecuting Africans and ignores war criminals on other continents.