African Union chief slams ICC warrant for Sudan's president

AFP - International Criminal Court indictments against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir are "undermining African solidarity and African peace and security," the African Union president said Sunday.
   
"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," said Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika, current head of the pan-African organisation.
   
Mutharika urged his counterparts at an AU summit in Kampala to look for ways of resolving the conflict in Sudan without the need to arrest Bashir.
   
"There is a general concern in Africa that the issuance of a warrant of arrest for... al-Bashir, a duly elected president, is a violation of the principles of sovereignty guaranteed under the United Nations and under the African Union charter," he said.
   
"Maybe there are other ways of addressing this problem. Let us together explore this possibility."
   
The ICC this month added a genocide charge to Bashir's indictment, which also includes charges for war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.
   
Bashir himself did not attend the AU summit. The 53-member bloc has repeatedly criticised the arrest warrant, saying it harms its efforts to pacify Sudan.