ICC concerned about another al-Bashir visit

Fatou Bensouda, the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor, has expressed concern that SA will allow Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to enter the country again, according to a BDlive report. It notes there is a possibility that al-Bashir will visit SA in December for the Forum on China Africa Co-operation, though the government has denied that this will be the case. Bensouda is also concerned that the legal processes under way in SA will take so long that they will delay the court’s own processes indefinitely. Bensouda expressed the wish for a definite time frame to be put in place. SA asked for an extension for its submission to the ICC explaining why it did not arrest al-Bashir when he came to the country in June to attend an African Union summit. Bensouda has appealed to the ICC’s pretrial chamber for a hearing should the legal proceedings in SA extend beyond 31 December. The court has set 15 December as the deadline for SA to make its explanatory submission. The report says she wants to be able to present argument before the court’s pretrial chamber over whether a further extension should be given to SA if the domestic proceedings are not finalised by 15 December.