From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Fri Mar 05 2010 - 05:44:25 EST
Sudan says Bashir to skip IGAD summit in Kenya
Friday 5 March 2010
March 4, 2010 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese government announced that
president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir will not take part in the extraordinary
summit of Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Nairobi
scheduled for next week.
Bashir received an invitation yesterday delivered by the visiting Kenyan
foreign minister Moses Wetangula and Ethiopian minister of foreign
affairs Seyoum Mesfin.
The pro-government Al-Rayaam newspaper quoted Sudanese foreign minister
Deng Alor as saying that the presidency has previously declined the
invitation due to being occupied with preparations for the April
elections.
The Sudanese head of state risks arrests in Kenya, a Rome Statute
signatory, as he is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for
charges of masterminding crimes committed in Darfur.
Despite an African Union (AU) resolution last year for member states not
to cooperate with the Hague based court none of the continents ICC
members received the Sudanese head of state and other countries such as
Uganda and South Africa even warned him to stay away to avoid
apprehension
Yesterday Bashir addressing NCP supporters in the Sudanese capital said
that he will continue to travel worldwide despite the warrant accusing
world powers of standing behind his indictment.
"They are liars, hypocrites.this [my destiny] is not in the hands of the
US or the UN and we will not kneel before them like others did" the
Sudanese president said.
"We do not fear them and we will continue to travel because death can be
through fever or malaria or a traffic accident but a happy death is to
die as a martyr to join my fellows who were martyred" he added.
The Sudanese head of state managed to maintain ability to travel
regionally to countries such as Ethiopia, Egypt, Eretria, Libya and
going as far as Zimbabwe and Mauritania, none of which are ICC members.
But Bashir has also turned down several invitations over the past year
to attend events in Uganda, Nigeria, Venezuela, Denmark, Turkey, South
Africa and US.
Today the ICC president Judge Sang-Hyun Song expressed confidence that
Bashir will eventually face justice.
"May I remind you of two previous similar occasions where President
Slobodan Milosevic and President Charles Taylor of Sierra Leone were
brought, surrendered before the ad hoc tribunals. When the arrest
warrant was issued against these two individuals, pretty much people
were laughing ... 'How could you bring the top person to justice? This
is a joke" Song said at a briefing in the House of Commons in London.
"It took less than three years to get them brought before the tribunal
and in the case of the arrest warrant for Mr al-Bashir, the arrest
warrant issued by the International Criminal Court knows no statute of
limitations, so some day he will be brought to The Hague to face
justice." he said.
Seperately, it was announced on Friday the Sudanese president will
travel to Eritrea on a one day visit for discussions on bilateral
relation
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article34325
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