International Business Times quotes Africa Center Director J. Peter Pham on reports that South African President Jacob Zuma helped Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir flee South Africa to avoid outstanding charges brought by the International Criminal Court:

“I cannot imagine that President Bashir could take off from a military base – to which location his jet had been moved from a civilian airport – without the knowledge if not active cooperation of the South African government,” said J. Peter Pham, Director of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C.

[…]

Although it could not be independently confirmed that the South African government had enabled Bashir’s escape from handcuffs, experts said the report comes as no surprise. “When coupled with the longstanding ICC problem with political legitimacy in Africa, whatever its legal right, the only surprise is that there is anyone surprised by the outcome,” Pham said Friday.

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