Sudanese president to visit Malaysia next week: official Article Comments (1) Email PrintSave --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 11, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir will travel to Kuala Lumpur next week to attend an economic summit, a Malaysian official said. Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir (AFP) Kohilan Pillay, Malaysian deputy foreign minister, told Agence France Presse (AFP) that Bashir will be among the seven African leaders who will participate in the 9th Langkawi International Dialogue (LID) from June 19 to 21. There was no official announcement of the visit from Khartoum. The theme for LID 2011 is “Enhancing Smart Partnership for Socio-Economic Transformation”. This year’s Dialogue has been designed with the objective of expanding the existing social and economic network between Malaysia and the participating countries from Africa and the Caribbean. Bashir’s presence will likely overshadow the conference given his status as the first head of state charged by the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC). The Sudanese leader faces ten counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide he allegedly masterminded in Darfur. He is accused of targeting the African tribes in Sudan’s western region namely Fur, Zaghawa and Masaalit. About 300,000 people have died since conflict broke out in Darfur in 2003, when non-Arab rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum for a greater share of resources and power, according to UN figures. Sudan’s government says 10,000 have been killed. Theoretically all ICC member states are obligated to apprehend Bashir should he set foot on their territories though African nations including Kenya, Chad and Djibouti allowed him to visit despite being signatories to the Rome Statute. Malaysia is not a state party to the court’s treaty but last March the cabinet decided that it will join the ICC. The next step is for the parliament to ratify the treaty for it to become a full member. Bashir’s travel has been restricted as a result of the arrest warrant even to non-ICC members. In 2009 the Sudanese leader was forced to cancel his appearance at the last minute at a summit in Turkey following behind the scenes pressure from officials in Ankara. Last year Libya also asked Bashir to stay away from the EU-Africa summit to avoid mass walkout by European nations. (ST) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
