Uganda Says It Would ‘Consider Granting Bashir Asylum’

In a controversial statement Foreign Minister Henry Okello ha said if Uganda is approached to grant asylum to Bashir it is an issue that would be considered at the highest level. Uganda is one of several nations which has hosted Bashir in the past without handing him over the ICC.

Okello said they would consider it on the ground that Bashir played a key role in mediating a peace deal in neighbouring South Sudan: “his asylum in Uganda is what the government of Uganda can consider.’

Back in Sudan, the council says that Bashir remains in custody, but has not specified his whereabout or that of other senior regime leaders. He faces charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity – all relating to the conflict in Dafur. The UN estimates that at least 300,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced.