Sudan represented at ambassador level in AU summit amid rift with Kampala

July 25, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese government made a last minute decision not to send its foreign minister Ali Karti to lead the country’s delegation at the African Union (AU) summit taking place in the Ugandan capital.

Late last month it was determined that the Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir would not be present at the summit citing the absence of Ugandan president Yoweri Musevini from the inauguration ceremony of Bashir yet attending that of South Sudan president Salva Kiir.

It was not known up till late Saturday at what level Sudan will be represented as the Sudanese top diplomat made statements saying the decision “is left to the political leadership”.

However, pro-government newspapers in Khartoum reported on Sunday that Karti will lead Sudan’s delegation to the summit which will discuss among other things the stance towards the International Criminal Court (ICC) which issued an arrest warrant on war crimes, crimes against humanity and added genocide earlier this month.

Uganda is a signatory to the ICC statute and has made statements saying that Bashir risks arrest if he attends the summit but later retracted it and sent a personal envoy to apologize.

Earlier this month, Karti told the official news agency (SUNA) that the misunderstanding with Kampala has been resolved and noted the recent visit by Ugandan state minister for foreign affairs Isaac Musumba in which he re-invited Bashir to the summit.

“[The] Ugandan envoy came with explanations that were convincing to the President of the Republic, and accepted the clarifications and apologies, Sudan will participate positively at the African Union summit in Kampala , but has not yet decided who would take part and level of participation ” Karti said in the interview with SUNA this month..

It is not clear what prompted a re-souring of relationship with Kampala to the point of refusing to send an official from Khartoum to attend.

“This is not about the president being afraid of being arrested,” one presidential source told Reuters. “We could send the vice president instead but we are not sending him or any minister,” the source said.

Reuters noted that Bashir rarely fails to attend an AU summit and, intent on wooing its African allies, Sudan always sends high-level representation to the meetings.

(ST)