ALBERTON – The media is all a flutter, the Twitter sphere is twittering away and Facebook is having its say. Should the South African government have arrested Sudanese president, Omar Al Bashir?
Back in 2009, the International Criminal Court (ICC), in The Hague, issued its first warrant of arrest for the Sudanese president to answer for the alleged war crimes in the Darfur war that continues to ravage the region. Despite the warrant Al Bashir continues to travel and recently attended the African Union (AU) congress here in SA. The ICC requested that the SA government arrest him and just as our courts came to a decision on the best legal route to take, Al Bashir was escorted to his plane by our own police.
Now there is certainly a debate over the actions of the government, its moral and legal responsibility to the ICC and our agreement with them. I, however, am going to play devil’s advocate here.
My opinion is that it was better to let him leave because history has proven that taking the high road comes with many perils and in this case those would have been in form of terrorist attacks. While the whole debacle was unfolding here in SA, the Sudanese army surrounded our peacekeeping troops in Sudan, making it very clear, arrest Al Bashir at your own risk.
Lets look at what is happening in Kenya as another example. Most of you may not know about the university attack that happened on April 2l in which 147 people died after an Al Shabaab attack. Let’s not forget the Westgate attacks or embassy bombings. Kenya continues to be plagued by terrorist attacks and why? Because Kenya is supporting the Somalian government in efforts to bring stability to that region. Then there is Nigeria with its Boko Haram issues.
Terrorism is a very real threat and in a country that has borders like a sieve it could quickly become a reality. If a country like the United States can be attacked, what chance would we have against a highly motivated and battle-hardened militant with nothing to lose? I agree that Al Bashir should be held accountable for his actions but not at the risk of my countrymen. This is one of those times that perhaps the greater good was to keep this country safe and perhaps we should have refused Al Bashir entry in the first place.
So yes we had an obligation to the ICC but I think we have a greater moral obligation to the people of South Africa. The question is which is the greater good?
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