Sudan's president was sworn in on Thursday for another five-year term after an election marred by boycotts and fraud allegations - the only head of state to be re-elected while facing an international arrest warrant for war crimes. At his inauguration ceremony in the national parliament, Omar Al-Beshir pledged Sudan would not return to war and that an independence referendum in the country's south would be held next year as planned. Beshir is sought by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands, for allegedly masterminding atrocities in Darfur. Sudan doesn't recognize the tribunal and has refused to cooperate or hand over its citizens. He vowed to engage with the West despite the ICC warrant hanging over him. Dressed in traditional white robes and turban, Beshir addressed parliament in a ceremony attended by six African heads of state or government, and low-level representation from Western countries. “I will personally strive to build up a dialogue, an objective dialogue with Western states aimed at clearing the atmosphere,” he said. The inauguration in Khartoum came a day after the ICC reported Sudan to the UN Security Council for refusing to arrest two other Sudanese officials - a government minister and a militia leader. The two are also suspected of war crimes in Darfur, where fighting between government and rebel forces killed 300,000 people and displaced 2.7 million from their homes. Beshir, who came to power 21 years ago in a military coup, got a comfortable majority in the April elections, winning 68 percent of more than 10 million valid ballots. His victory was widely expected after his most credible challengers pulled out of the race to protest alleged fraud. But the win was unlikely to put to rest questions about his international standing or ease Sudan's isolation. Beshir cannot travel freely because he risks being arrested in countries that recognize the ICC. Last month's balloting was Sudan's first multiparty presidential, parliamentary and local elections in 24 years. It was also a key requirement of a 2005 peace deal that ended a 21-year civil war between the predominantly Arab and Muslim north and rebels in the Christian-animist south. The fighting left 2 million people dead and many more displaced. The Darfur conflict, which began in 2003, is not related to that war. The April elections also opened the way for a 2011 referendum in which the south will decide whether it wants to secede - a decision that will come under Beshir's new term. “There will be no return to war,” he told lawmakers as South Sudan President Salva Kiir looked on. Kiir, who was also re-elected in the April vote, was inaugurated separately in the south last week. “We are committed to conducting the referendum on time, as stipulated in the (peace) agreement,” added Beshir. But he warned there should be “no dictation, no coercion and no forgery of the will of the people.” The north and the south still must still negotiate how the two regions will share oil revenues and divide access to the Nile River waters before the referendum.
