VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe (AFP) — Sudan’s President Omar al-Beshir, who faces international arrest for war crimes, arrived in Zimbabwe on Saturday for a two-day African trade summit.
Beshir will join heads of state from the 19-member Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) who are set to approve a free customs union on Sunday.
Zimbabwe has no duty to arrest Beshir as it is not party to the treaty that set up the International Criminal Court (ICC), justice minister Patrick Chinamasa told AFP.
“We are aware that the President of Sudan is under an ICC warrant of arrest which he disputes. We are not a state party under the Rome Statute. We have no obligation under the Statute of Rome to execute that obligation,” he said.
The ICC issued an arrest warrant in March for Beshir to face five counts of crimes against humanity and two of war crimes over the conflict in Darfur.
Sudan is a member of COMESA, which will be chaired from Sunday by Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe who takes over from Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki.
Under the free customs union deal, the 19 countries with a total population of 400 million people will impose the same tariffs on goods from outside the region.
Raw materials and capital goods will travel across borders without tariffs, while intermediate products will be taxed at 10 percent and finished goods at 25 percent.
Also in Victoria Falls is ousted Madagascan leader Marc Ravalomanana, who said Madagascar needs support and help from the trade bloc, following his ouster in March.
“It was a coup. I’m sure COMESA will make a commitment so that I get my country back,” he told reporters at Victoria Falls airport.
Ravalomanana this week dismissed a four-year jail term to which he was sentenced in absentia over his purchase of a 60-million-dollar presidential jet.
COMESA consists of Burundi, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
