South Africa Court bars Sudan president from leaving

A South African judge barred Sudan's indicted president from leaving the country on Sunday, in a deepening rift between Africa and the West over what Pretoria called anti-poor country bias in the International Criminal Court (ICC). President Omar al-Bashir, visiting South Africa for an African Union summit, stands accused in an ICC arrest warrant of war crimes and crimes against humanity over atrocities committed in the Darfur conflict. He was first indicted in 2009. A judge is expected on Monday to hear an application calling for Bashir's arrest, though this appears unlikely as South Africa's government has granted legal immunity to all African Union delegates. South African President Jacob Zuma's ruling African National Congress (ANC) responded furiously to Sunday's court order, accusing the Hague-based ICC of seeking to impose selective Western justice by singling out Africans. Sudan's government said that Bashir had not slipped out of the country, despite some media reports to the contrary. "President Bashir is here in Johannesburg," presidency spokesman Mohammed Hatem said from the South African commercial capital, acco0rding to Reuters.