CAIRO: Sudanese President Omar Bashir met his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak yesterday on his second foreign visit since the International Criminal Court (ICC) ordered his arrest for war crimes in Darfur.
Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit renewed Egyptian opposition to the ICC’s warrant for Bashir’s arrest after talks between the two leaders. “There is an Egyptian, Arab and African stance that does not accept the court’s manner in dealing with the Sudanese president,” he said.
“Mubarak has encouraged Bashir to put on trial in Sudan those who have participated in acts that led to the worsening of the humanitarian situation in Darfur,” Aboul Gheit said.
The ICC warrant, issued on March 4, was the first against a sitting head of state. The ICC cannot try individuals who have already faced a credible judicial process in their own country.
There was little chance of Bashir being arrested in Cairo, with both Egypt and the Arab League rejecting the warrant and saying it threatens peace talks in Sudan. Egypt — like all Arab states except Jordan — is not a party to the Rome treaty that created the ICC, the world’s first permanent war crimes tribunal.
The ICC does not have a police force and calls on signatory states to implement warrants. However, all United Nations member states are urged to cooperate with The Hague-based court.
Even the United States, where the previous administration described the Darfur conflict as genocidal, said on Tuesday it was under “no legal obligation” to arrest Bashir as it was not a signatory to the Rome statute.
Bashir’s daylong visit to Egypt came just two days after he made a short visit to Eritrea, once an archfoe of Sudan.
Doubts have been raised, however, over whether Bashir will attend an Arab summit in Doha at the end of the month, with Sudan’s highest religious authority, the Committee of Muslim Scholars, advising him against going there.
Aboul Gheit said Bashir and Mubarak discussed ways to “improve the humanitarian situation in Darfur, so as not to allow any foreign party to claim that there is a crisis in Darfur.”
Many African and Arab states, along with China, have condemned the ICC move and called for the warrant to be suspended.
The Arab League and African Union have vowed to lobby the UN Security Council to suspend the court’s proceedings.
