Egypt intelligence chief to discuss Sudan during US trip
March 17, 2009 (WASHINGTON) — The Egyptian intelligence director Omer Suleiman started a visit to the US for talks on a wide range of issues including Sudan, according to media reports.
On March 4th the ICC judges approved a request by prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo to charge Bashir on seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, which include murder, rape and torture.
Egypt criticized the warrant saying it will only aggravate the conflict in Sudan particularly in the conflict ridden region of Darfur and called on the UN Security Council (UNSC) to suspend the indictment though it acknowledged that this will be an uphill battle given stiff opposition by Western countries.
Washington has stressed that it will block any deferral resolution in the council using its veto power.
Suleiman along with Egyptian foreign minister met with Bashir last week to discuss Cairo’s proposal for an international conference on the Darfur crisis.
However Sudan rejected the conference saying it will “internationalize” the issue. Furthermore Bashir told the Egyptian delegation that local aid agencies can close the gap left by his expulsion order of more than a dozen foreign relief groups.
Despite Khartoum’s refusal, Cairo so far does not appear to give up on the idea of the conference and semi-official Egyptian newspapers have urged the Sudanese government “to be reasonable” and accept the proposal.
Sudanese officials have said that they were not consulted on the idea and expressed concern that attendance by US, UK and France to such a conference may force it to accept items against its will.
(ST)