Sudan former president advises Bashir to skip Doha summit

March 17, 2009 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese former president Siwar Al-Dahab made a plea to president Omer Al-Bashir not to attend the Arab summit in Qatar scheduled to be held later this month.

Al-Dahab in statements to the Qatari daily Al-Sharq urged Bashir to exercise “patience and wisdom” and not risk travelling to Doha “for his safety and the safety of Sudanese people”

Last week Sudan announced that Bashir has accepted the Qatari official invitation to participate in the Arab League annual summit and the Arab Latin summit.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Bashir earlier this month on seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, which include murder, rape and torture.

Many observers in Sudan have expressed fear that Bashir will subject himself to apprehension if he leaves the country.

“How can we guarantee the movement of the president in non-Sudanese airspace without being intercepted by parties known to support the ICC” the retired Brigadier General Hassan Bayoumi told the London based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat from Khartoum.

The Sudanese aviation expert Sheik Al-Deen Abdullah told the same newspaper that intercepting the presidential plane is “piracy” but noted that Saudi authorities are legally allowed to force Bashir’s flight to land.

Khartoum said it is implementing new security procedures for Bashir’s foreign trips.

The Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said yesterday that his organization as well as Qatar received a cooperation request from the ICC but turned it down.

“We in the presidency of the Arab League have a clear position on this request and we totally reject it” Moussa was cited as saying.

Qatar said it is simply hosting the Arab summit and that it is not a meeting initiated by its government.

“The summit is an Arab meeting, it is not for Qatar or Sudan….Sudan will be invited, and it’s up to the Sudanese government weather to attend or not” the Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jasim Al-Thani told reporters last week.

Qatar is not a member of the ICC’s Rome Statute and is therefore under no legal obligation to arrest Bashir.

However court officials said they could transmit a request to Qatar for executing the arrest warrant in light of UN Security Council (UNSC) 1593 under chapter VII in March 2005 referring the situation in Darfur to the ICC.

(ST)