Sudan’s President Bashir Cancel Mogadishu’s IGAD Summit Over Arrest Fears

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Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir may cancel his planned trip to the Somali capital Mogadishu

KHARTOUM – Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir may cancel his planned trip to the Somali capital where the upcoming summit for the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) is expected to take place this week over fears of arrest, sources said Friday.

The summit which will feature key African leaders including Rwandan president Paul Kegame, Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta and Djibouti’s president Ismail Guelleh will discuss about pressing issues in the continent which sees a growing security threat by homegrown terrorist groups.’

According to a senior Sudanese official who asked not to be named, Mr. Bashir who is indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC) may skip the summit which would take place in the long-chaotic Mogadishu for the first time in decades.

The official said that Mr. Bashir’s deputy would attend the summit in his place.

Several African Countries have repeatedly defied IICC’s ruling ordering the long-serving Sudanese leader’s arrest, however, sources in the Sudanese government expressed suspicion over Somalia’s stand towards ICC.

A spokesman for the Somali government could not be reached for comment.

Since ICC’s arrest warrant was issued, most of president Bashir’s trips abroad have been to non-ICC states including Saudi Arabia and Egypt

But he has also been to member states that have declined to arrest him, including Nigeria which hosted him in 2013 and South Africa.

SOURCE:Alleastafrica

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