Sudan’s President regrets non attendance of upcoming Arab summit
KHARTOUM, May 19, 2004 (KUNA) — The Sudanese government on Thursday officially announced that President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir would not attend the Arab summit slated in Tunis on 22-23 this month.
Sudanese FM Mustafa Othman Ismail said, the Sudanese President had sent a message to his Tunisian counterpart Zein El-Abidine Ben Ali in which he apologized for not participating in the summit, stressing that this would not debase the importance of the summit.
Ismail justified the absence of the Sudanese President by the absence of the two vice presidents; Ali Othman Taha and Moses Kacoul Machar, as one of them, Taha, is attending peace talks with Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) leader John Garang in the Kenyan city of Naivasha, while the other is abroad for medical treatment.
Ismail added that Bashir is also following up the peace process, that reached its final stages, and the situation in Darfur.