Gulf | Qatar
Summit rejects warrant against Sudan leader
The Arab League, which will today wrap up a two-day summit in Qatar, yesterday rejected an international arrest warrant issued against Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir and warned that Arab states' patience with Israel was running thin.
- By Abdul Hamid Ahmad Editor-in-Chief. and Jumana Al Tamimi, Associate Editor
- Published: 23:46 March 30, 2009
- Image Credit: AP
- The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir for war crimes.
Doha: The Arab League, which will on Tuesday wrap up a two-day summit in Qatar, on Monday rejected an international arrest warrant issued against Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir and warned that Arab states' patience with Israel was running thin.
The summit also turned its attention to the global financial crisis with another warning from the summit host, the Emir of Qatar, Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, that the economic downturn was "eroding the savings of Arab countries."
"With the shaken international financial system, we find ourselves facing a sharp dilemma felt in every country," Shaikh Hamad told Arab leaders in his opening address. He said collective global efforts are needed to overcome the crisis and restructure the global financial system.
As Arab reconciliation efforts took a backseat because of the absence of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the focus was on the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against Al Bashir.
The Sudanese President on Monday asked the summit to reject the warrant and accused the UN Security Council of corruption. Arab League Secretary General Amr Mousa called for the "cancellation" of the arrest warrant.
Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Foreign Minister, also came out strongly against the ICC warrant, telling Dubai TV that the ICC had committed "a big mistake by politicising the issue to this extent".
The long dormant peace process in the Middle East was also on the agenda during yesterday's proceedings.
- With inputs from WAM and agencies
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