On 26 October 2009, the Nigerian Coalition for the ICC issued an open letter to the Nigerian government reacting to the invitation extended to Sudanese President Al Bashir to attend the Peace and Security Council (PSC) meeting of the African Union to be held in Abuja (Nigeria) from 29 October 2009. Below are some excerpts of the open letter.
“… Nigeria is a state party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) having signed and ratified the treaty in September 2001. …[T]he United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in resolution 1593 of March 2003 referred the Darfur conflict to the ICC. Nigeria’s membership of this body could be jeopardized and compromised if we do not abide by our commitments to international justice, particularly, in light of the recent election of Nigeria to that body as one of the 10 non-permanent members.
… The NCICC is surprised that Nigeria agreed to host president Al-Bashir as this will be the first time that a state party to the Rome treaty would agree to host an individual wanted for international crimes. South Africa and Uganda are examples of states parties to the Rome Statute that refused to allow the president of Sudan into their countries because of its legal and political implications and we therefore expect Nigeria to do same and not allow Al-Bashir to come to Nigeria.
… However, we believe that the Darfur issue calls for urgent and concerted action by the Nigeria government to ensure that we do not provide a safe haven for somebody wanted for crimes against citizens of our continent.
We therefore call on the Nigerian government to rescind the decision to invite Al-Bashir to Nigeria as this invitation is not in our best interest and negates our commitment to international justice and the promotion of rule of rule and the rights of the citizenry in the continent. Nigeria has the obligation to arrest him and hand him over to the International Criminal Court for prosecution in accordance with article 86 of the Rome Statute which encourages states parties the treaty to cooperate fully with the ICC in its investigation and prosecution of crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court.”
