MOSCOW, June 16 (RAPSI) – South African authorities have failed to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir during his visit to the country despite the warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), BBC reported on Tuesday.

President of Sudan visited South African Johannesburg in order to participate in African Union (AU) summit.

President’s aircraft has left the country several hours before The Pretoria High Court has issued an order for his arrest, BBC reported.

In March 2009 the Hague court issued an arrest warrant for a group of Sudanese officials, including President Omar al-Bashir, on charges of genocide and military crimes.

Hostilities between the government army and numerous rebel groups, which demanded a change of regime in Darfur, western Sudan, started in 2003. According to the United Nation (UN) statistics, about 300,000 people have died in the conflict since then.