Sudan’s president to Tehran today for NAM summit

August 28, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The president of Sudan, Omer Al-Bashir, is due to travel to the Iranian capital Tehran on Wednesday to participate in the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

Al-Bashir will join 30 heads of states, including Egypt’s new president Mohammed Mursi, in attending the summit which will take place on 30 and 31 August.

Sudan’s President will be accompanied by the minister of presidential affairs Bakri Hassan Salih and minister of foreign affairs Ali Karti.

On the summit’s agenda are a new push to quell the conflict in Syria, condemnation of Western sanctions on Iran and other NAM countries, including Sudan, and support for the creation of a Palestinian State.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon will also attend the summit “as an observer”.

Host nation Iran is unlikely to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) which seeks the arrest of Al-Bashir on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide he allegedly masterminded in his country’s western region of Darfur.

NAM was created in 1961 by a group of nations that saw themselves as not aligned to either the United States or the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Today it has 120 nations as members including “Palestine”.

(ST)