November 21, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir will fly to the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to attend a regional summit on Sudan, state media reported on Sunday.
- Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir (R) listens on as Ethiopian President Meles Zenawi speaks to the press, during a stopover in Sudan on his way to the UN General Assembly in New York, at Khartoum International airport on September 19, 2010 (Getty Images)
The state-owned Sudan News Agency (SUNA) carried a report saying that Bashir would lead Sudan’s delegation to the special summit of the the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) on Sudan, which is due to begin on Monday, November 23.
Bashir is hounded by two warrants issued for his arrest by the International Criminal Court (ICC) which in March 2009 charged him with war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in the course of the eight-year conflict in Sudan’s western region of Darfur.
The Sudanese leader denies the charges and denigrates them as part of a Western ploy to topple his regime.
The IGAD summit was originally to be held in the Kenyan capital last October but it was later relocated to Addis Ababa to avert a potential diplomatic crisis over Bashir’s attendance.
Kenya’s acting Foreign affairs Permanent Secretary Patrick Wamoto, whose country chairs the IGAD’s subcommittee on Sudan, said that Kenya would have preferred that the meeting be held in Naivasha, where north and south Sudan signed Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), but the risk that Bashir’s presence would provide the main focus of international attention during the meeting forced a rethink.
The summit was called for by Kenya in order to review the implementation of the CPA, especially with regards to the final crucial phase of south Sudan’s referendum vote on independence.
Ethiopia is not a state member of the ICC and therefore under no legal obligation to arrest Al-Bashir. The country previously criticized the court’s decision and received Al-Bashir in April 2009.
Kenya was embroiled in controversy last August when it received Al-Bashir during the promulgation of the country’s new constitution despite being a full member of the ICC and thus under legal obligation to execute the arrest warrant against him.
Kenya’s decision to flout its legal obligation to apprehend Al-Bashir had brought the country under heavy criticism and created rifts within its coalition government.
Kenyan officials argued that the country was adhering to a resolution by the African Union (AU) instructing its members not to cooperate with the ICC on Al-Bashir case.
The ICC judges asked Nairobi last month to arrest Bashir if he attends the IGAD summit, or in the alternative to inform them of “any problem which would impede or prevent” his apprehension. The Kenyan government responded by saying that the Sudanese president is not expected to visit.
On Wednesday, the Kenyan High Court received a request from the local chapter of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) that seeks an order from the judges that forces the government to arrest the Sudanese president.
(ST)