Sudan's President Omar Hassan Al-Beshir visited Eritrea on Monday on his first foreign visit since he was indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in Darfur, Eritrea's government said. Al-Beshir risks arrest when he leaves Sudan after The Hague-based court issued a warrant for him this month on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. He rejects the ICC charges against him. Eritrean TV showed Al-Beshir arriving at the airport in the capital Asmara where he was greeted by his counterpart President Isaias Afewerki along with drummers and dancers. Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu said that Al-Beshir was accompanied by his heads of security and intelligence and was there to discus regional security. “The drama being orchestrated by the so-called ICC amply demonstrates the anti-people stance and defamatory conspiracy on the part of external forces,” the Eritrean government had said in its invitation. “Eritrea sees the decision by the ICC as irresponsible and as an insult to the intelligence of African countries,” Abdu said. “It's unjustifiable and illegal and illogical and futile, the so-called ICC decision.” “”We believe it's an extension and symptom of the ongoing world hegemony and domination by a few powers in this world,” said Abdu. Al-Beshir is also scheduled to attend the Arab League summit at the end of the month in the tiny Gulf nation of Qatar. Arab League chief Amr Moussa said last week that member nations would not act on the arrest warrant. The Arab League and African Union, backed by China and Russia, have called on the UN Security Council to use its power to suspend the ICC indictment. But there have been public calls in Sudan for him to stay home for fears he might be arrested. On Sunday, Sudanese media said the country's highest religious authority, the Committee of Muslim Scholars, has issued a fatwa urging Beshir not to travel to the March 29-30 Arab summit in Doha. “It is inadmissible for the president of the republic to take part in the Arab League summit in Qatar under current conditions while the enemies of God and of the nation are creeping around,” the text said.
