Region | Sudan
Sudanese president starts rare visit to war-torn Darfur
Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir began a rare visit to the war-torn Darfur on Wednesday.
- Agencies
- Published: 13:10 July 23, 2008
- Omar Al Bashir will spend the next two days visiting the three state capitals in in the vast arid region.
- Image Credit: Gulf News Archive
Al Fasher: Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir began a rare visit to the war-torn Darfur on Wednesday.
Interestingly, Al Bashir faces a possible international arrest warrant for allegedly masterminding genocide in Darfur.
International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo last week accused Al Bashir of instructing his forces to annihilate three non-Arab groups in Darfur, masterminding murder, torture, pillaging and using rape to commit genocide.
The United Nations says that up to 300,000 people have died and more than 2.2 million have fled their homes since the conflict erupted in February 2003. Sudan says 10,000 have been killed.
The war began when African ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated Khartoum regime and state-backed Arab militias, fighting for resources and power in one of the most remote and deprived places on earth.
Al Bashir will spend the next two days visiting the three state capitals in the vast arid region, Al Fasher in the north, Nyala in the south and Al Geneina in the west, accompanied by a bevy of officials and a plane load of journalists.
Foreign ambassadors were invited on the trip amid speculation that Al Beshir could possibly make an important announcement. British ambassador to Khartoum, Rosalind Marsden, was among those travelling on Wednesday.
Al Bashir is scheduled to address popular ceremonies organised in his honour, inaugurate development projects and hold talks with state government officials, local leaders and political party representatives, the presidency announced.
State media quoted Al Beshir as reiterating to Arab lawyers on Monday that Sudan rejected any outside interference, "blackmail and pressure" and vowed again never to surrender any citizen to the international community.
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