Sudanese president arrives in Libya to attend regional summit

May 28, 2009 (TRIPOLI) — President Omer Al-Bashir arrived today to the Libyan capital to participate in a regional meeting despite an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court.

This is the second visit of the Sudanese president to Libya after the ICC arrest warrant o. It is also the seventh one outside Sudan since last March.

The summit of Community of Sahel-Saharan States (Cen-Sad) will begin on 29. Libya said all the leaders of the member states would attend the meeting.

Bashir held this evening a closed door meeting with the Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi. The two leaders were expected to tackle the ongoing tension between Sudan and Chad.

The official SUNA reported that talks dealt with bilateral relations between the two countries, besides regional issues of concern to member States of the Cen-Sad.

Chad is a member of the regional economic organization. The issue of Sudan-Chad relations is seen as crucial to end the six-year Darfur conflict, is expected to be discussed in the meeting.

The member states of the Cen-Sad are: Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, the Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo and Tunisia.

(ST)