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Mugabe, Omar al-Bashir to be invited for the India-Africa Summit
24 Jun 2015 at 15:55hrs | Views
The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to invite President Robert Mugabe for the 3rd India-Africa Forum Summit to be held here on October 29.
India will host its largest diplomatic outreach programme with Africa from October 26, inviting leaders of all 54 States in the region, 10 months after it had cancelled the event due to Ebola scare.
The five day-long third "India-Africa Summit" is expected to be attended by nearly 1000 delegates including heads of government, ministers, government officials, business leaders and others.
While the meeting between the heads of the government and states will take place on October 29, it will be preceded by the rounds of interactions between the ministers and the senior officials.
India has already sent an invitation to the newly-elected Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Narendra Modi government's list of invitees for the India-Africa Summit will also include Omar al-Bashir, Sudan's President and alleged perpetrator of war crimes.
Bashir was recently under the International Criminal Court (ICC) scanner while attending the African Union Summit in South Africa, but India will have no hesitation in inviting the leader since it is not a member of ICC, officials said.
India will shortly send an invitation to Bashir to attend the third edition of the India-Africa Summit, officials said.
An international warrant was issued against Bashir by ICC while he was attending the African Union Summit in Africa. He is wanted by the court for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity over the conflict in Darfur, but he managed to fly out of Pretoria last Monday despite a court order blocking his departure.
"India has consistently opposed the Hague-based court," officials said. India abstained from voting when the statute for ICC was adopted in 1998, saying it objected to the broad definition adopted of crimes against humanity; the rights given to the UN Security Council to refer and delay investigations and bind non-states parties; and the use of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction not being explicitly criminalised. India has objected to the very creation of ICC that has been ratified so far by 123 countries. USA, Russia and China are also not members of ICC.
India will host its largest diplomatic outreach programme with Africa from October 26, inviting leaders of all 54 States in the region, 10 months after it had cancelled the event due to Ebola scare.
The five day-long third "India-Africa Summit" is expected to be attended by nearly 1000 delegates including heads of government, ministers, government officials, business leaders and others.
While the meeting between the heads of the government and states will take place on October 29, it will be preceded by the rounds of interactions between the ministers and the senior officials.
India has already sent an invitation to the newly-elected Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Narendra Modi government's list of invitees for the India-Africa Summit will also include Omar al-Bashir, Sudan's President and alleged perpetrator of war crimes.
Bashir was recently under the International Criminal Court (ICC) scanner while attending the African Union Summit in South Africa, but India will have no hesitation in inviting the leader since it is not a member of ICC, officials said.
India will shortly send an invitation to Bashir to attend the third edition of the India-Africa Summit, officials said.
An international warrant was issued against Bashir by ICC while he was attending the African Union Summit in Africa. He is wanted by the court for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity over the conflict in Darfur, but he managed to fly out of Pretoria last Monday despite a court order blocking his departure.
"India has consistently opposed the Hague-based court," officials said. India abstained from voting when the statute for ICC was adopted in 1998, saying it objected to the broad definition adopted of crimes against humanity; the rights given to the UN Security Council to refer and delay investigations and bind non-states parties; and the use of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction not being explicitly criminalised. India has objected to the very creation of ICC that has been ratified so far by 123 countries. USA, Russia and China are also not members of ICC.
Source - online
