Omar al-Bashir, Sudan's president, has accepted an invitation from Qatar to attend the annual Arab summit set to take place in Doha later this month. The decision was confirmed by Sudan's ministry of foreign affairs as the International Criminal Court (ICC) called on Qatar to cooperate with its arrest warrant against the Sudanese leader.
The ICC wants al-Bashir arrested on charges of war crimes in the western Sudanese province of Darfur.
Qatar, which is not a signatory to the Rome statute that established the ICC, invited al-Bashir. Laurence Blairon, the ICC spokeswoman, told AFP: "The court counts on the co-operation of states and therefore of Qatar, but it does not have its own police force."
She said that Qatar may not be a member of the Rome Statute but that it was a member of the United Nations. "The [UN] Security Council resolution that requires all states to cooperate with the court therefore applies to Qatar," she said.
© 2009 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
