Ethiopia invited to arrest and surrender Al-Bashir

The ICC has requested Ethiopia assist in arresting Omar Al-Bashir three times in the past seven months. © Simon Maina/AFP/GettyImages

ICC judges have invited the Ethiopian government to arrest and surrender Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir as he visits the country for the fourth time in seven months.

Pre-Trial Chamber II issued the decision on Tuesday following a prosecution notification that Al-Bashir had travelled to Ethiopia on 25 April to take part in the “3rd Forum on Security in Africa” on 26-27 April.

The prosecutor believes that Al-Bashir is to remain in the country for a further four days.

In the past seven months, the Chamber has on four occasions requested the Ethiopian government to assist in arresting and surrendering Al-Bashir, without any success.

#ICC judges ask Registrar to remind #Ethiopia that #AlBashir, attending #AU summit, is wanted for genocide in #Darfur http://t.co/2cLz5RHofl

— coalitionfortheicc (@_CICC) February 1, 2014

Ethiopia is not an ICC member, and therefore has no legal obligations towards the Court.

However, each time the Chamber requests Ethiopian cooperation it relies on the UN Security Council Resolution 1593 (2005) that referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC, which “urged all States and concerned regional and other international organizations to cooperate fully” with the ICC.

Two ICC arrest warrants were issued for Al-Bashir in 2009 and 2010 for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups in Darfur, Sudan.