Sudan’s Bashir to visit Russia

October 16, 2016 (KHARTOUM). Sudan’s President Omer Al-Bashir will visit Russia in the coming two months to discuss mutual cooperation, according to the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On Sunday, Sudan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ibrahim Ghanodur said that al-Bashir will visit Russia before the end of this year to discuss bilateral relations and coordination in international forums.

In press statements after a meeting with the First Vice President Bakri Hassan Salih, Ghanodur said that he met his Russian counterpart on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York last September and discussed with him mutual relations and issues of joint interests.

Last Tuesday, Russian Special Presidential Envoy for the Middle East and Africa and Deputy Foreign Minister, Mikhail Bogdanov met senior Sudanese officials in Khartoum including President al-Bashir. He discussed Sudan’s political, and economic developments in Sudan.

Also, last Thursday, Sudan and Russia signed several agreements to develop mining sector in Sudan after three days of consultations.

In a separate development, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has invited al-Bashir to attend the climate summit that will be held in Marrakech next November.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued two arrest warrants against President al-Bashir in 2009 and 2010 for alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed in Darfur.

However, he has continued to travel freely in Africa, Arab countries and Asia, defying the ICC arrest warrants. Last year he visited India and China.

The official Sudan News Agency pointed that Ghandour also briefed the first vice president on the diplomatic efforts exerted by his ministry to response to Amnesty International’s claims on the use of chemical weapons in Darfur.

In September, the human rights group said that it has gathered “horrific evidence of the repeated use of what are believed to be chemical weapons against civilians, including very young children, by Sudanese government forces in one of the most remote regions of Darfur over the past eight months”.

According to the report, between 200 and 250 people (including many children) probably died due to exposure to the chemical weapons.

(ST)