Al Bashir in Turkey for Africa summit

Istanbul: Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir arrived in Turkey on Monday for a summit of African leaders this week in his first trip abroad since an international court moved to indict him for genocide.

International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo last month asked the court to issue an arrest warrant for Al Bashir on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, saying his state apparatus had killed 35,000 people and indirectly at least another 100,000.

Al Bashir has said he would not cooperate with the ICC and called the court's move part of a neo-colonialist agenda to protect the interests of developed countries.

Asked about the possibility of an ICC warrant being issued while Al Bashir was in Istanbul, a Turkish Foreign Ministry official declined to speculate on what Turkey would do.

"[Al] Bashir was invited to the summit as an African country leader and there is no arrest warrant against him at this moment. If there are any requests, we will evaluate them then," the official said. Nato member Turkey has not ratified the treaty forming the ICC but is under pressure to become a member as part of negotiations to join the European Union.