Arab League Ministers Begin Extraordinary Meeting on Bashir Indictment By ICC

Arab foreign ministers on Saturday began their extraordinary meeting in Cairo to discuss the situation between the International Criminal Court ( ICC) and Sudan, at the request of Sudan.

The meeting chaired by Djibouti’s minister of Foreign Affairs, Mahmoud Ali Youssef and also attended by Amr Moussa, Secretary General of the Arab League, will discuss the Arab position on how to deal with the request of the Prosecutor of the ICC to arrest a number of senior Sudanese officials under the pretext that they committed war crimes in Darfur.

The ministers held consultative meetings attended by Amr Moussa, prior to the start of the extraordinary meeting.

Diplomatic sources said that the council will discuss the Arab political moves to settle the crisis, and legal options in dealing with the decision of the Prosecutor of the ICC.

The sources revealed that these options include a demand from the UN Security Council to cancel its decision to refer the file of Darfur to the ICC, or suspension of investigations for one year, since it will lead to a deterioration of the situation in the region, undermine chances for peace in Sudan and destabilize the security and political stability.

A number of Arab and African countries had criticized the accusations made by the ICC Prosecutor’s accusations against the Sudanese leadership and expressed surprise at the timing of its issuance, at a time when Sudan is heading to peace and the holding of general elections in the country.

The Arab League officials had been holding intensive meetings to study the legal and political ways out of the crisis.

Source African Press Agency

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