Sudan 2nd VP Taha makes surprise visit to Saudi Arabia

March 22, 2009 (RIYADH) — The Sudanese 2nd Vice President Ali Osman Taha made a previously unannounced visit to Saudi Arabia heading a high level delegation that met with King Abdullah Bin Abdel-Aziz.

Taha who was accompanied by presidential adviser Mustafa Ismail and state minister for foreign affairs Ali Karti delivered a letter from President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir to his Saudi counterpart.

The letter comes days after Bashir phoned the Saudi monarch and according to state news agency they discussed bilateral ties and current situation in the Arab and international arena.

The Saudi official news agency did not disclose the content of the message but the Sudanese ambassador in Riyadh Abdel-Hafiz Ibrahim told the London based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat that the message deals with latest developments following the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Bashir earlier this month in connection with war crimes committed in Darfur.

Ibrahim said that his country wants to get the Saudi point of view on the situation in Sudan “in light of Riyadh’s ideas to deal with this issue as well as the religious, political, economic and regional clout that it enjoys”.

“We look for the Saudi role to help and support Sudan and containing the repercussions of this crisis in accordance with the wisdom and balance the Kingdom enjoys in its policies and what the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques always calls for in mending Arab ties” he added.

The statements by the ambassador signal a request by Khartoum to Riyadh for intervention to defuse the crisis created by the arrest warrant but the specifics appear unclear.

Last November an Arab diplomat told Sudan Tribune that Bashir asked King Abdullah to use his country’s strong relations with Washington and press the latter to drop their opposition to a UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution freezing the ICC indictment.

However the Saudi monarch reportedly turned down the request.

The Saudi government has said this month that it was “disturbed” by the arrest warrant against Bashir

“The council of ministers said the kingdom is concerned and disturbed by the International Criminal Court’s decision to arrest his Excellency President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir” the Saudi Information Minister Abdul Aziz al-Khoja told reporters following a regular cabinet meeting led by King Abdullah.

“This will not solve the problems in Sudan. On the contrary, it will complicate them” al-Khoja said.

Furthermore the Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal told reporters last week that the ICC decision is “politicized”.

However a Western diplomat told Reuters reacting to al-Faisal’s remarks said that Saudi Arabia is reluctant to be seen as less supportive than its regional arch-foe Iran, which dispatched Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani to Khartoum in support of Bashir.

“They don’t want a prominent Arab country like Sudan to end up being the latest addition to Iran’s growing circle of friends … after Syria” a Western diplomat said.

Saudi Arabia has been one of the few Arab states that received the ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo last year who met with foreign minister Saud Al-Faisal.

Ocampo disclosed last year that the powerful Arab Gulf state was made aware of a plan to divert a plan carrying Sudanese state minister for humanitarian affairs Ahmed Haroun who wanted to perform the annual Islamic pilgrimage on a forged passport.

Haroun, who is also wanted by the ICC, ended up cancelling his travel plans thwarting the plot to nab him.

It is also likely that talks between Taha and King Abdullah tackled the issue of the 13 aid agencies in Darfur that Khartoum expelled immediately after the issuance of the arrest warrant, a move that drew international outcry.

This week the US department acting Spokesman Robert Wood suggested that Saudi Arabia is one of the Arab countries Washington is reaching to press Sudan to rescind its decision.

Sudan has stressed that it has no intention to reverse the expulsion order.

UN experts estimate some 300,000 people have died and 2.5 million driven from their homes in Darfur. Sudan blames the Western media for exaggerating the conflict and puts the death toll at 10,000.

(ST)