Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir arrived in Doha Sunday to attend the Arab League summit scheduled for March 30-31 in the Qatari capital of Doha despite the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant for him.
Bashir was received in the Doha International Airport by Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa.
The plane he has taken is printed with the English word of “Sudan,” which means that Bashir took a plane of the airline of his own country.
Receiving a red carpet welcome, a smiling Bashir was wearing a traditional Arab robe and a white turban. He was greeted with an embrace and a kiss by the Qatari emir.
Bashir then had coffee with the emir and moussa.
This is the first time for Bashir to attend a regional conference since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for him on March 4. Last week he visited his neighboring countries Eritrea, Egypt and Libya.
Sudanese Islamic scholars have warned him not to travel to the summit. But the Sudanese government has announced that Bashir will be attending the Arab League summit despite the ICC's arrest warrant.
Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani visited Sudan on Tuesday to invite Bashir to attend the meeting.
Earlier this month, Sudan's official news agency SUNA reported that both the Arab League and Qatar,which is not a signatory country to the ICC, have rejected a request from the ICC to execute its arrest warrant against Bashir.
At Saturday's Arab League foreign ministers' meeting, the Qatari prime minister said the Sudan issue will be one of the main topics to be addressed at the summit.
In a draft declaration issued late Saturday, Arab foreign ministers urged the ICC to annul its arrest warrant against Bashir.
The draft declaration calls for "cancelling the measures" adopted by the ICC against Beshir, and "urges all Arab countries not to cooperate with the measures of the ICC."
"The ICC decision against President Omar al-Bashir sets a dangerous precedent in targeting a president who is still in office," the draft declaration said.
Meanwhile, Moussa said Sunday that the Arab countries have reached consensus on rejecting the ICC's arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and the Arab summit to be held on Monday will issue a statement on it.
On March 18, Moussa said the AL was “greatly disturbed” by the ICC decision, and the pan-Arab body supports the sovereignty of Sudan.
(Xinhua News Agency March 30, 2009)