Uganda says it is willing to consider asylum for Sudan's ousted leader Bashir


Reuters | Updated: 17-04-2019 15:02 IST | Created: 17-04-2019 15:02 IST
Uganda says it is willing to consider asylum for Sudan's ousted leader Bashir

Uganda will consider offering asylum to ousted Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir despite his indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC), a foreign affairs minister said on Wednesday. "Uganda would not be apologetic at all for considering an application by Bashir," Okello Oryem, Uganda's state minister for foreign affairs, told Reuters in Kampala.

Bashir, 75, who had ruled Sudan for 30 years after seizing power in a military coup, was toppled by the military last week after months of street protests. Bashir faces an International Criminal Court arrest warrant over the death of an estimated 300,000 people during an insurgency in Sudan's western Darfur region over a decade ago.

Oryem said Bashir had yet to contact Kampala for possible refuge, but added that there was no harm in considering the fallen Sudanese leader for political asylum. There was no immediate comment from the ICC in The Hague. ICC member states, which include Uganda, are obligated to hand over indictees who enter their territory. (Reporting by Elias Biryabarema Editing by Omar Mohammed and Mark Heinrich)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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