Botswana has condemned the African Union (AU) for enticing Malawi to host Sudan president Omar al Bashir at the AU summit that was supposed to be held in Malawi in July.
The summit has now been relocated to Ethiopia after Malawi refused to host Al-Bashir and threatened to arrest him if he attended over crimes al Bashir committed against humanity in Darfur and is on the wanted list of the International Criminal Court.
The Malawian government announced last week it will no longer host the summit in attempt to avoid the controversy around the presence of the Sudanese President in country.
Showing solidarity with Malawi, a statement from Botswana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation says Malawi as a sovereign state has a right to make such a decision.
“Botswana condemns this action as it is inconsistent with the very fundamental principles of democracy, human rights and good governance espoused by the AU, and which Malawi upholds,” reads the statement.
However the previous Malawi government led by dictator Bingu wa Mutharika did allow Al-Bashir to visit Malawi and in 2011 the Sudanese President attended a COMESA summit in Lilongwe.
