RIYADH: In an effort to show solidarity with Sudanese President Omar Hassan Bashir, all 22 member states of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union (APU), including Saudi Arabia, have decided to send a high-ranking delegation to Khartoum while renewing their call to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to take urgent steps to defuse the crisis in Sudan by suspending the warrant of arrest for the Sudanese leader.
APU Secretary-General Noureddine Bouchkouj made the call ahead of his visit to the Kingdom. Bouchkouj said, “Saudi Arabia and other APU members share common concerns on the question of Bashir’s indictment and have identical positions on this issue.”
Bouchkouj, who spoke via phone from Morocco on Sunday, also expressed grave concerns over the continuing Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories that would hamper all plans to restore peace and security in the Middle East. More than 300,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank today and over 200,000 have built their houses in East Jerusalem, he added. The APU, he said, are prepared to cooperate with the US and with the Quartet in promoting a peaceful resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict if Washington can secure an Israeli settlement freeze and a lifting of the economic and military blockade of the Gaza Strip. He pointed out that the Arab-Israeli conflict was discussed in detail at the APU conference in Oman recently. The APU conference, which was attended by a high-level Saudi delegation led by Shoura Council Chairman Abdullah Al-Ashsheikh, issued a communique that touched all important issues confronting the region.
Asked how the APU would help Sudan to overcome its problems especially at a time when Bashir is named on an arrest warrant, Bouchkouj said he was working on a common initiative to send an APU delegation to Khartoum in a few weeks. The APU, which coordinates efforts to restore comprehensive peace in the region, has called for the suspension of arrest warrant. He said the APU is planning to hold its next conference in Cairo in February next year.
“We have always been in continuous contact and consultation with APU member states at very high levels in order to solve all issues affecting the region,” he added.
Bashir was issued with an arrest warrant for alleged crimes against humanity in Sudan’s Darfur region. The president has defied the warrant so far and has traveled to a number of countries including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia and Libya. The Saudi government has made its position clear by supporting Sudan. At the same time, the Kingdom is one of the few Arab states which last year received the ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo who met Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal.
