Sudan’s Bashir will attend Africa-EU summit, Mbeki

Khartoum, 28 Nov-(ANA)- Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, wanted on war crimes charges, will attend an African-European summit in Libya next week, former South African President Thabo Mbeki has said on Saturday.

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Bashir alleging he masterminded genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity during the country's seven-year conflict in the Darfur region.

Libya, which is hosting the Africa-European Union summit on Monday and Tuesday, is not a member of the Hague-based court and is under no obligation to arrest Bashir once he enters its territory.

However, his attendance would cause a diplomatic dilemma for representatives of the EU, all of whose members have signed the court's charter and are bound to cooperate with it and enforce its arrest warrants.

Mbeki spoke to reporters at the end of a meeting in Khartoum with the Sudanese leader and the president of semi-autonomous south Sudan, Salva Kiir.

"There is the summit meeting of the African Union and the European Union in Libya ... President Bashir has to go there for that summit which will be followed immediately by the summit meeting of the peace and security council of the African Union," he said.

African Union heads of state last year voted not to cooperate with the ICC indictments and Bashir has visited Kenya and Chad, both of them court members. (ANA)

FA/ANA/28 November 2010------