CAIRO: The Sudanese president plans to travel to Egypt today, in his second venture abroad since the international arrest warrant against him for war crimes in Darfur, government officials in Cairo said.
Egyptian officials said yesterday that Omar Bashir would discuss “regional developments” with President Hosni Mubarak.
The government did not release an official announcement confirming the visit, and Sudanese officials refused to comment.
The word of the visit came as a joint UN-Sudanese report, released in New York, warned that about 1.1 million people in Darfur will not receive their food rations in May unless a way is found to fill the gap left after Khartoum expelled 13 international aid groups in retaliation for the arrest warrant.
The UN has sharply criticized Bashir for the expulsion which has threatened a new humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
US ally Egypt is a member of the 22-nation Arab League, which has supported Bashir against the warrant and declared that its members will not arrest the embattled Sudanese president. Bashir dismisses the ICC as a prejudiced court with no jurisdiction in Sudan.
Meanwhile, gunmen who came looking to steal satellite phones fatally shot a 39-year-old Sudanese relief worker in western Darfur, his Canadian-based aid agency said yesterday.
Adam Khater, who was the Fellowship for African Relief’s Darfur director, was shot to death at his home on Monday night in the town of Kongo Haraza, near Sudan’s border with Chad, said Mark Simmons, country director for the Ontario-based organization.
