By Andrew Irumba
Matters have turned from bad to worse for ousted Sudan former president Omar al-Bashir after the International Crimes Division of the High Court in Kampala issued an arrest warrant against him and faulted Uganda’s failure to arrest him when he last visited Uganda.
Justice Dr Henry Peter Adonyo ordered that the arrest warrant against Bashir must be implemented, and that Uganda is under obligation to arrest him.
Court ruled that Uganda’s failure to arrest Bashir when he last visited in 2017 was in violation of its national and international obligations.
The judge also ruled that Uganda as a state has an obligation to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) whenever it is requested to do so under terms of the Rome Statute.
This application filed by the Uganda Victims Foundation dates back to 2017 when Bashir as then President of Sudan and wanted by the ICC, visited Uganda.
Justice Henry Peter Adonyo, Head, International Crimes Division, ruled that Uganda failed its international obligations when it hosted Omar Bashir despite an International arrest warrant against him for crimes against humanity, war crimes, extermination and others.
The ruling comes on a day when Sudan marks the first anniversary of uprising that ousted Bashir.
It is a year after demonstrations broke out in Sudan over soaring bread prices.
Celebrations are planned across the country on Thursday to mark the uprising that brought down veteran autocrat Omar al-Bashir.
In the central town of Atbara, the cradle of the revolt, hundreds of people are expected to arrive by train from Khartoum to stay for a week of festivities.
Organised by the transitional government and the protest movement, it is a tribute to the thousands of demonstrators who travelled in the opposite direction to the capital at key moments during the uprising.
It was in the dusty streets of Atbara on the banks of the River Nile that Sudanese held their first rallies in December 2018 against a government decision to triple the price of bread, which later culminated into the overthrow of Bashir.
