No war planes escorted President Bashir while flying to Doha

Riyadh: Two senior Sudanese officials have asserted that there were no Sudanese war planes escorting the presidential aircraft that took President Omar Al Bashir to Doha on Sunday evening to attend the Arab Summit. In a phone interview with Gulf News from Khartoum on Monday, Abdullah Ali Masar, advisor to Sudanese president, and Lt. Gen.Al Hadi Abdullah Al Qayadi, a senior official of the ruling National Congress, said that Sudan will not stick to its demand to hold an emergency Arab Summit in Khartoum to discuss the situation arising out of the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against President Al Bashir.

Abdullah Ali Masar said the plane that carried President Al Bashir was flown by two Sudanese pilots, who have strictly been directed not to land on any destination other than Doha International Airport, and not to pay heed to instructions from any outside agencies.

“Normally we do have highly advanced security and military arrangements and procedures on land. As for air, there is no need for sending war planes to ensure security of the presidential aircraft,'' he said and added: “There were no security concerns for the Presidency or the ruling National Congress leadership with regard to the travel of President Al Bashir to attend the Doha Summit.

However, there were serious consultations and hectic talks at home about the utility of attending the summit, and whether or not it would serve the interests of Sudan.

Abdullah Ali Masar and Lt. Gen. Al Hadi Abdullah said that Khartoum will not renew its demand to hold an emergency Arab Summit in Sudan after the Doha summit to discuss the ICC decision.

Together with Syria, Sudan had proposed to hold an emergency session in Khartoum during the foreign ministers' conference held in Doha prior to the Summit.

There was a divergence of opinions regarding such an urgent summit among the foreign ministers attended the meeting. Some of them backed the proposal while others disagreed. Therefore, the meeting decided to refer this topic to the summit to take a final decision.

Al Hadi Abdullah, who is very close to President Al Bashir, reemphasized that Sudan unequivocally wants that the Doha Summit should formally reject the unjust decision taken by ICC against President Al Bashir and ask The Hague-based Court to revoke it instead of freezing it.

“The proposed Khartoum Arab summit is aimed at declaring the Arab solidarity with Sudan on this contentious issue. We leave this matter to the Arab leaders and await their decision in this respect,'' he said.

Both Abdullah Ali Masar Lt. Gen. Al Hadi Abdullah ruled out the possibility of the Arab leaders being influenced by an interference of the major powers in the 11th hour to backtrack from their decision to stand by Sudan.

“The Sudanese file is almost settled as far as the Arab Summit is concerned. The known Arab position is united against the one-sided decision by the International Criminal Court against President Al Bashir,'' they said.

Al Hadi Abdullah said that the decision of President Al Bashir to attend the Doha Summit is bringing in big political mileage for Sudan. This is also an answer to the threats being made every now and then by the ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo that Al Bashir will be apprehended if he dares to travel to countries other than the neighboring ones such as Eritrea, Egypt and Libya where he visited before leaving for Doha.

Abdullah Ali Masar said that his country will also make serious efforts at the Doha Summit to seek withdrawal of Arab representatives from the ICC. Jordan, Djibouti and Comoros are the Arab member countries of the UN court.