RIYADH: Sudanese President Omar Bashir visited Saudi Arabia and performed Umrah yesterday in a move backed by the Arab states to defy the arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court.
“President Bashir is currently in the Kingdom and I am with the president,” confirmed Sudanese Ambassador Abdel Hafiz Ibrahim via telephone yesterday.
Bashir’s visit to Saudi Arabia is his fifth trip to a foreign country since the warrant issued on March 4, accusing him of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region of western Sudan.
The itinerary of Bashir in Jeddah and Makkah was not immediately known, but a diplomatic source said it was a brief visit for the president and that he had already performed Umrah.
The diplomat said that senior Sudanese officials accompanied Bashir. It was not immediately known whether the Sudanese president would address the Sudanese community in Jeddah or if there was a plan to visit Riyadh before he leaves for Khartoum.
The diplomat could only give few details of the visit, which came as Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and other senior officials were in London for the G-20 summit.
Bashir arrived in the Kingdom from Qatar where he attended the Arab League summit. According to reports by Sudanese TV and radio, Bashir flew from Doha for Jeddah after the summit of Arab and Latin American leaders.
Prince Saud Al-Faisal, foreign minister, has supported Bashir and Sudan on previous occasions. Prince Saud said recently that the issuance of the arrest warrant was a politicized decision.
