Sudan call to Arab states

Published on Saturday 12 July 2008 19:43

SUDAN has asked for an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers ahead of the expected indictment of the country's president for genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

A senior European diplomat said on Friday the International Criminal Court's prosecutor would likely seek President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's arrest in a new war crimes case he will open on Darfur tomorrow.

Egypt's state news agency MENA said Sudan called for an emergency Arab League foreign ministers meeting "to look into the situation between Sudan and the ICC".

ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo is due to submit to judges "evidence on crimes committed in the whole of Darfur over the last five years" and seek to charge an individual or individuals, a prosecution statement said last week.

Moreno-Ocampo said last month that Sudan's "entire state apparatus" was involved in an organised campaign to attack civilians in Darfur.

Experts say at least 200,000 people have died in Darfur since 2003.