The absence of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir from the Central African Republic's independence celebration on Wednesday, apparently following diplomatic pressure for the genocide indictee to stay away, is seen by rights activists as a “victory.”

“The cancellation of President Al-Bashir’s visit to CAR is very significant in our view and in the opinion of many Human Rights defenders,” says Lucillé Mazangue of the Association des Femmes Juristes de Centrafrique (association of female lawyers of Central Africa). “this is a victory for CAR national and international human rights defenders.”

Bashir, wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan's Darfur, has restricted his movements to friendly nations. He also failed to show up for a European Union-Africa summit in Libya earlier this week.

The ICC had urged the Central African Republic to comply with its international obligation to arrest Bashir if he turned up.

There was no official explanation for Bashir's absence from the event in its neighbour's independence celebration. But an aide to Central African Republic President Francois Bozize said it followed a long conversation late on Tuesday between Bozize and French Cooperation Minister Henri de Raincourt, who was present.

"I think Bashir's absence is a result of the conversation between the French minister and the head of state," the aide said. "Not only France finds this invitation very embarrassing but it would cause us big problems if Bashir came."

In Khartoum, a presidential source said Bashir had decided not to attend the event, without elaborating on the reasons.

Bashir's absence from two regional events in the space of less than a week is an indication of the concerted diplomatic pressure on even nearby countries to shun him. All ICC member states “have started to become more aware of those stakes which, in our opinion, is a very significant evolution,” Mazangue said. “Practically Bashir is getting less and less support.”

The United Nations estimates some 300,000 people died in a humanitarian crisis sparked by Khartoum's counter-insurgency campaign launched in Darfur in 2003 against rebels from mostly non-Arab tribes.

The ICC calls the violence genocide, an accusation Sudan strongly rejects.