ICC, west can’t dictate to Africa on Al-Bashir – Ali

He was speaking yesterday in Abuja at a news conference to debunk media reports purporting that President Omar Al-Bashir, who was in Nigeria early this week for an AU summit, hurriedly left for home Tuesday to escape arrest. Dr Majoub Ali said rather than abide by the dictates of the west and ICC, Africans should […]

He was speaking yesterday in Abuja at a news conference to debunk media reports purporting that President Omar Al-Bashir, who was in Nigeria early this week for an AU summit, hurriedly left for home Tuesday to escape arrest.
Dr Majoub Ali said rather than abide by the dictates of the west and ICC, Africans should develop a strong new spirit of unity to withstand neo-colonialist tendencies.
“Who asked the Nigerian government to arrest Al-Bashir? Al-Bashir came to Nigeria for an AU duty, it is the African Union we respect. The ICC cannot dictate to us, this is the new spirit of Africa-the spirit of unity and integrity as was shown by Nigeria and we are very grateful for that. If we abide by what they (ICC and the west) say, then they will have the right to intervene and come back to re-colonise and enslave us, but now Africa is far beyond that”, he said.
According the ambassador, rather than dissipating energy on pursuing Al-Bashir about, the ICC and the west should help Africa combat diseases and poverty which have been ravaging Africans for decades. He described as completely false, reports that the Sudanese president had to cut short his stay in Nigeria to evade arrest. Rather, he said, after attending the first session of the conference on Monday, he proceeded to have pre-arranged bilateral talks with the presidents of Kenya and Ethiopia in different venues, after which he left for home to attend to another summit on the South- Sudan peace agreement.
“I was stunned by the reports which are grossly untrue. President Al-Bashir never entertained any thought of arrest or fleeing Nigeria, he never discussed any possibility of arrest rather than that the Nigerian government welcoming his visit. He left after the first session to keep bilateral appointments. When he was asked to make his intervention he was in the other room for pre-arranged meetings, he did not leave for fear”, he said.
According to Dr Mahjoub Ali, the ICC issue is no longer a national issue but a continental one for which African leaders have taken a collective stand to resolve rather than doing just what the west wants.
 “We want Africans to take the responsibility of defending Africans. The west and EU are intervening in African affairs, but many of these countries are not even signatories to the Rome Statute yet they want to dictate to Africans on it, even three of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council are not signatories to the Rome Statute yet they are pressing Africa on it”, he added. Acknowledging the Nigerian government’s solidarity with the Sudanese people on the matter, Ambassador Mahjoub Ali said Nigeria is too important a country and too close to Sudan to allow itself to be enmeshed in issues that only serve to betray the African spirit of unity.