Mbeki says Sudan’s Bashir will participate in Africa-EU summit

November 27, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir will attend the 3rd Africa-European Union (EU) summit that will start next Monday in Libya, the former South African Thabo Mbeki said on Saturday.

“There is the summit meeting of the African Union and the European Union in Libya … President Bashir has to go there for that summit which will be followed immediately by the summit meeting of the peace and security council of the African Union,” Mbeki told reporters according to Reuters after meeting Bashir and his Vice President Salva Kiir for discussions on the disputed region of Abyei.

Bashir’s attendance will be an embarrassment to the EU which has been the major backer of the International Criminal Court (ICC) which charged the Sudanese leader with war crimes and genocide allegedly committed in Darfur.

This month, an unnamed African diplomat told the Qatar-based Al-Sharq newspaper that the EU has expressed reservations over the attendance of Bashir and was pressing the Libyans to convince him to have another official lead Sudan’s delegation.

The diplomat said that the EU alluded to Tripoli that Bashir’s participation could impact their representation level at the summit.

There was no official confirmation from the Khartoum on the level of Sudan’s participation.

A similar incident occurred this year when Paris decided to change the venue of the France-EU summit after Egypt, the original host, insisted on inviting Bashir.

African Union heads of state last year voted not to cooperate with the ICC indictments and Bashir has visited Kenya and Chad, both of them court members.

This year, the EU has blasted Kenya and Chad, both members of the ICC, after they allowed Bashir to visit despite their obligation to apprehend him. It has managed to convince Turkey last year to have the Sudanese leader cancel his participation in a summit by the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC).

(ST)