The African Union (AU) denounce the International Criminal Court and refuse to extradite Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, who has been indicted for crimes against humanity in Darfur.
- The 13th Africa Union summit of heads of state, which concluded Friday in Sirte, Libya, also "expresses its preoccupation about the behavior of the ICC prosecutor" Luis Moreno Ocampo, whom African officials describe as too hard on Africans.
- The ICC has launched investigations into four cases since it was created seven years ago, all of them in Africa.
- The decision at the African Union summit says AU members "shall not cooperate" with the court in The Hague "in the arrest and transfer of President Omar al-Bashir of the Sudan to the ICC."
- Some AU leaders said there was strong opposition to the summit's decision. Benin Foreign Minister Jean-Marie Ehouzou said that Sudan's neighbor and antagonist, Chad, objected to the wording.
- Heads of state at AU summits reach their decisions behind closed doors and by consensus, not vote, and it was not clear how the new measure was approved.
- Prime Minister Bernard Makuza of Rwanda conceded the resolution had been "a hot spot" in the leaders' three-day summit, but that countries finally approved the Libyan-led decision because they don't feel fairly treated by the ICC.
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