Khartoum – Sudan is boycotting an African Union-European Union summit in Libya that starts on Monday in protest at EU pressure on President Omar Hassan al-Bashir not to attend, a Sudanese official said on Sunday.
Bashir has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and genocide in Sudan’s Darfur province, a move which has isolated Sudan and restricted the movements of the president to friendly nations in the region.
“Sudan is not participating in this summit at any level – we have withdrawn,” a senior Sudanese official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. “The president is not going… This is because of the EU position,” the official added.
The European Union strongly backs The Hague-based ICC. Sudan rejects the jurisdiction of the court and refuses to cooperate.
The court also issued arrest warrants for Darfur rebel commanders, who turned themselves in for trial.
Sudan is seen as disappointed that Libya, a supposed ally, did not insist that Bashir be invited to the November 29 summit.
Libyan-Sudanese relations have been tense since Tripoli agreed to host Darfur rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim despite Sudan’s request that Tripoli expel him.
Last year, a Franco-African summit was postponed and moved from Egypt to France after the French government insisted that Bashir not be invited, a step refused by Cairo.
The United Nations estimates 300 000 people died in a humanitarian crisis sparked by Khartoum’s brutal counter-insurgency campaign launched in Darfur in 2003 against rebels from mostly non-Arab tribes.
Washington calls the violence genocide, a term Sudan strongly rejects.
Libya itself was ostracised by the West for decades over accusations that it sought weapons of mass destruction and had ties to violent militant groups. Gaddafi later renounced such policies and sanctions were lifted. – Reuters