By NNN-KUNA,
Cairo : Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa has announced that he will heading to Sudan next Sunday to have talks with officials there regarding the strained relations between that country and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
At a joint conference here Wednesday with Sudanese Foreign Minister Al-Samani Al-Waseela, Moussa said that his trip to Sudan would take place after the conclusion of the emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers scheduled for Saturday.
He described the crisis between Sudan and the ICC as “serious” and occur at a time when the region was rife with political uncertainties.
The Arab League, he said, was preparing for the Arab foreign ministers’ meeting regarding that issue and was also consulting with the African Union and the African Security and Peace Council to deal with the ICC accusations against the Sudanese president.
He indicated that the Arab foreign ministers would discuss the Sudan-ICC issue from the standpoint that presidents of nations are immuned from prosecutorial procedure, noting that the ICC prosecutor and Sudan have in the past had normal talks regarding the situation in Darfur.
The ministers would also look into the fact that Sudan was not a signatory in the founding of the ICC, said Moussa.
Al-Waseela, on his part, said that the evidence which the ICC relied upon in its accusations of the Sudanese president was based on false hearsay.
He urged that the Arab foreign ministers on Saturday hear out the Sudanese side of the story to realise that the ICC accusations were politically and not legally motivated.
He cautioned that the accusations and the escalation of the issue would lead to further crisis that would affect not only Darfur but Sudan’s neighbouring countries.
The Sudanese minister expressed the opinion that there were certain quarters (which he did not name) that aimed at scuttling peace efforts in Darfur.