Sudan's Bashir Gets COMESA Backing

By KITSEPILE NYATHI NATION Correspondent

African leaders on Monday backed Sudan President Omar al-Bashir, who is accused of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court and called for his warrant of arrest to be suspended.

In a communiqué read at the end of the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) heads of state and government summit, the leaders also called for Sudan and Chad to exercise restraint in their border dispute.

Mr Bashir was in Zimbabwe in defiance of the ICC warrant issued in March for his alleged role in the atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur region.

He had earlier told the summit that the warrant was part of a futile plot to isolate and fragment his country.

"It (the ICC warrant) is an action aimed at isolating Sudan and eventually fragmenting and dividing our country," he said.

"But through our own efforts and resources we are going to overcome such designs," he said in a speech delivered in Arabic and translated into English by an official.

The visit was his first to southern Africa after he travelled to Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Libya, which are all not members of the ICC.

COMESA leaders called on the United Nations to press for the cancellation of the indictment and encourage a negotiated settlement to the conflict in Sudan.

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