The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest
warrant in 2009 for Bashir to face charges of war crimes and crimes against
humanity in the war-torn Darfur region. Last week it added three counts of
genocide to the list of charges.
Bashir refuses to recognize the court.
"He will go to Chad tomorrow," one presidential
source told Reuters on Tuesday. "He will attend the summit of the
Sahel-Saharan states," the source added. Another source in the presidency
said the visit would last three days.
Chad became a full member of the ICC in 2007 when relations
with neighboring Sudan were at a low point. Member countries promise to
cooperate with the court's investigations and the ICC can ask states to arrest
suspects on their territory.
The ICC's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, told
reporters last week the gravity of the new genocide charges would impel member
states to arrest Bashir and deliver him to the court, which is based in The
Hague.
"Implementing the warrant is the state (parties')
responsibility," Moreno-Ocampo said. "It's not a past genocide, it's
an ongoing genocide."
Bashir is unlikely to travel without assurances from Chadian
President Idriss Deby that he will not be handed over, but some in Sudan still
see the trip as risky, given the recent tumultuous relations between the
neighbours.
Deby is from the Zaghawa tribe which straddles the
Chad-Sudan border and there were many Zaghawa among those who rebelled against
Bashir in Darfur in 2003.
Sudan's counter-insurgency campaign in Darfur used mostly
Arab militia who are accused of raping, looting and murdering civilians in a
bid to isolate the rebels.
Both Sudan and Chad had supported rebels trying to overthrow
each other's government, but this year relations warmed and both agreed to end
their support for the insurgents.
Deby stopped a Darfur rebel leader from returning to Darfur
through Chad in May.
