There are conflicting reports of the circumstances under which Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir left South Africa today — if he left at all — after the International Criminal Court ordered him detained there.

Bashir faces international charges of war crimes, genocide in Darfur and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

NYTimes reports that Bashir’s private jet was seen flying out of a South African military base near Pretoria despite a South African High Court order to prevent him from departing.

BBC reports that the Pretoria High Court ordered Bashir’s arrest only after he left.

However, AlJazeera reports that a lawyer speaking on behalf of the South African government told the high court in Pretoria that Bashir was not on the list of passengers in a plane that left Waterkloof base.

Sudanese Information Minister Ahmed Bilal Osman told Al Jazeera that South Africa had always agreed not to arrest Bashir while he was in the country for the African Union summit. “President Bashir is not a prisoner inside Sudan,” he added, saying that the president was due to land back in Khartoum at about 15:30 GMT.

Sudanese officials gave conflicting information on Bashir’s whereabouts during his two-day visit to South Africa, NYTimes reports, including when exactly he left the country.

AlJazeera reported that the Sudanese president’s plane had been moved to a South African military base late Sunday night and that the South African defense forces were not a party to the court case, so Bashir could fly from the base unobstructed.

If the plane did leave South Africa as reported, the country’s home affairs department could be held in contempt of court for failing to implement the conditions of the court order barring the president’s exit, AlJazeera reported.

South Africa’s failure to arrest Bashir was disappointing, an ICC official said, according to BBC. South African judge, Dunstan Mlambo, said the failure to arrest him violated the country’s constitution.

Some Sudanese administrators described the attempt to arrest Bashir as lame, meaningless,” BBC reports. Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour told reporters at Khartoum airport that the court order was an attack on Sudanese sovereignty.

About 300,000 people have died in Sudan since fighting began in 2003, the U.N. reports. More than 1.4 million people are thought to be displaced, with Arab militias and government forces accused of targeting black Africans in the fight against rebels.

Countries that signed up for the ICC’s statutes must implement Bashir’s arrest warrant, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. As a member of the ICC, South Africa is obliged to arrest anyone charged by the court, BBC reports.

South Africa appears to have “shamefully flouted” its domestic court and the ICC to free Bashir, a man wanted for mass murder of Africans, tweeted Kenneth Roth, director of advocacy group Human Rights Watch, BBC reports.

Bashir’s departure represents a constitutional and diplomatic crisis for South Africa and raises questions about South Africa’s continued ICC membership, according to IOL.

The Cape Times said the decision to invite the Sudanese president, despite his indictment by the ICC, had “exposed the fact that the A.U. considers the ICC largely irrelevant.”

If South Africa did allow Bashir to leave, it’s  a serious blow to the International Criminal Court’s six-year campaign to bring him to justice, NYTimes reported.

BBC provided these key points in the Darfur conflict:

• Fighting began in 2003 when black African rebels in Darfur took up arms, accusing the government of neglect.
• Pro-government Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, were accused of responding with ethnic cleansing.

• In 2008, the U.N. estimated that 300,000 people had died because of the war, though Khartoum disputes the figure.

• More than 1.4 million people have fled their homes.
• In 2010, the ICC charged Bashir with genocide in relation to the Darfur conflict.
• There have been several peace processes, but fighting continues with numerous armed groups now active.