Sudan's al-Bashir travels abroad despite arrest warrant (Roundup)

Mar 23, 2009, 11:38 GMT

Nairobi/Khartoum - Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Monday left Sudan for the first time since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against him for war crimes in the Darfur province.

Arab news channel Al Jazeera reported that al-Bashir had flown to Eritrea for a one-day visit after the Eritrean president invited him out of solidarity.

Over the weekend, Sudan's highest religious authority the Committee of Islamic Scholars warned al-Bashir against travelling to an annual Arab summit in Qatar later this month.

The clerics issued a non-binding fatwa, or religious ruling, saying that al-Bashir should stay at home due to a threat from 'enemies of the nation.'

Sudan had earlier said that al-Bashir would ignore the warrant and travel to Doha.

Neither Qatar nor Eritrea, like Sudan, have signed up to the ICC and have no obligation to arrest al-Bashir.

The Arab League has also said it will take no action over the arrest warrant.

However, the Sudanese government is concerned al-Bashir's plane could be intercepted in mid-air and forced to land in a country where he could be arrested and taken to The Hague.

ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has said that al-Bashir could be arrested as soon as he enters international airspace.

Sudan earlier this month expelled over a dozen foreign aid agencies providing food, medical and other assistance in Darfur after the arrest warrant was issued.

The agencies were accused of spying for the US and providing intelligence to the ICC.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the US would hold al-Bashir responsible for any deaths that come about as a result of the expulsions.

The ICC accuses al-Bashir of genocide and other war crimes carried out in Darfur.

The conflict in Darfur began in 2003 when mainly non-Arab tribesmen took up arms against what they called decades of neglect and discrimination by the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum.

The UN says up to 300,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced by the conflict. The Sudanese government claims only around 10,000 have died.