Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir met on Sunday with Egypt’s newly elected President, Mohammed Morsi, to discuss the boosting of trade and investment.
Prior to the trip, London-based Amnesty International urged Cairo to withdraw the Sudanese leader’s invitation or arrest him upon arrival.
Bashir, who has two International Criminal Court arrest warrants against him for an alleged role in war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, was welcomed in Egypt by a delegation led by Vice President, Mahmoud Mekki.
Defending Cairo’s decision by highlighting the fact that the UN Security Council were yet to lift President Bashir’s immunity, Morsi’s spokeperson told reporters that Cairo followed the African Unions stance on Bashir, which asserts that ICC warrants do not eradicate the immunity of head of state.
The issuing of Bashir’s arrest warrant in 2009 has had very little effect on the Sudanese president’s activities, with this being his third visit to Egypt since the issuing of the warrant.
Bashir’s visit to Egypt signals an attempt to bolster what were once sour relations between the two countries.
