Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir delays visit to China

Leader’s planned trip had come in for criticism from human rights groups because he is wanted on war crimes charges A planned visit by Sudan’s president to China, which was criticised by human rights groups because he is wanted on international war crimes charges, has been delayed. President Omar al-Bashir was to have arrived in Beijing just after dawn on Monday, but by the middle of the afternoon his flight had not appeared. Chinese and Sudanese officials did not immediately give a reason for the delay, which put off a scheduled meeting with the Chinese president, Hu Jintao. A foreign ministry official, Guan Enxia, told reporters waiting at Beijing’s airport that Bashir’s scheduled events for Monday had been delayed. She did not give a reason. Chang Junling, a media official at the Sudanese embassy in Beijing, said the embassy did not know the reason for the delay or have any other information. Bashir’s planned state visit stirred up controversy because he is wanted by the international criminal court for allegedly orchestrating atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur region during the country’s civil war. It is the first such warrant against a sitting head of state. But China, which has major oil investments in Sudan, is not a member of the court and has expressed concerns that the indictment of Bashir could cause further instability in the region. The Sudanese leader rejects the charges from the Netherlands-based court, which has no police force and relies on member states to execute its orders and warrants. Amnesty International said earlier this month that China should withdraw its invitation to Bashir and arrest him if he travels to Beijing. “If China welcomes Omar al-Bashir, it will become a safe haven for alleged perpetrators of genocide,” said Amnesty’s deputy Asia Pacific director, Catherine Baber. Bashir has travelled without arrest to several other nations, including ICC treaty signatories Chad and Kenya. His talks with Chinese leaders are expected to focus on promoting peace in the African nation before south Sudan’s independence next month. Violence has escalated in areas contested by the north and soon-to-be-independent south, and China is pressing both sides to peacefully settle the disputes, Beijing’s special envoy for African affairs, Liu Guijin, said last week. China has long had close ties with the leaders of the north. It has been courting support in the oil-producing south, which becomes an independent country on 9 July. In an interview with China’s state-run Xinhua news agency before he left Sudan, Bashir said the split would not affect relations between Sudan and China, even if Beijing were to establish relations with the southern Sudan state. He praised China as an oil partner, calling the agreements with Chinese companies a “real exchange of benefits”, while saying deals with western companies were unfair. South Sudan’s declaration of independence will be the culmination of a 2005 peace deal that ended more than two decades of civil war that killed more than two million people. Omar al-Bashir Sudan China International criminal court Human rights Africa guardian.co.uk

Posted by on June 27, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.