Bashir denied US visa; Sudan angry

KHARTOUM: The Sudanese Foreign Ministry summoned the US charge d’affaires in Khartoum to protest Washington’s failure to grant a visa to the country’s president, who faces war crimes charges, media reported Saturday.
President Omar Bashir requested the visa to attend the UN General Assembly in New York. The charges are linked to the bloody conflict in the Darfur region.
“It is with deep regret that I inform you of the refusal of the authorities of the United States, the host government, to give an entry visa to President Bashir and his delegation,” Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Karti told the UN General Assembly. He slammed the US for what he called “a serious violation of the principles and purposes set forth in the Charter of the United Nations.”
“No change — visa application is still processing,” a US official told AFP.
But Karti accused the US administration of violating the “headquarters agreement of the United Nations signed in December 1946.”
“This unjustified and unacceptable action is a very serious precedent in the history of the United Nations,” Karti said, calling on UN chief Ban Ki-moon to “protect the rights” of all member countries.