Why did the President mislead the House on al-Bashir, and why are we attending his inauguration?
While the Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the President's statement yesterday, in response to a question I raised with him in the National Assembly, that Omar al-Bashir will be arrested if he attends the World Cup, the President appeared to have misled the House when describing the nature of the African Union resolution that South Africa had supported, and his administration has subsequently confirmed that we will be attending al-Bashir's inauguration later this month - a totally wrongheaded show of support from the ANC government for a man who stands accused of crimes against humanity.
To begin with, the President needs to clarify why he totally misrepresented what went on at the African Union.
The President said yesterday:
"[The AU] did not say we must not arrest al-Bashir."
Yet on 3 July 2009, at an African Union (AU) assembly meeting in Libya, AU member states passed Assembly Document 13(XIII), which expressed its "deep concern at the indictment issued by the Pre-Trial Chamber of the ICC against President Omar Hassan Ahmed El Bashir of the Republic of The Sudan". The resolution goes on to say: