Beshir wins strong Arab summit backing against ICC

Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir won strong support against his international arrest warrant over Darfur from an Arab summit on Monday that also warned Israel that an Arab peace offer was not open-ended.

While Sudan emerged with the most gains, a surprise tirade by Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi against Saudi King Abdullah was the main talking point of the annual summit held in Qatar's capital aimed at putting on a show of Arab unity.

Beshir had urged Arab leaders to reject his indictment on war crimes charges by the International Criminal Court ICC and lashed out at the UN Security Council, accusing it of applying "double standards."

"We stress our solidarity with Sudan and our rejection of the ICC decision against President Omar al-Beshir," the leaders said in their final statement, as read out by Arab League chief Amr Mussa.

As the two-day gathering was cut short and wound up in a single day, the Qatari hosts announced that Libya would host next year's summit instead of Iraq, which declined its turn on the grounds of logistical problems.

The start of the summit was overshadowed by Kadhafi's tirade against Abdullah, evoking a fiery exchange at a 2003 summit between the leaders of the two oil-producing states.

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani later brought Kadhafi and King Abdullah together for a meeting which cleared the air, according to senior Libyan official Ahmad Kadaf al-Dam.

There was no official Saudi word on the outcome.

Beshir already had the solidarity of Arab countries which have repeatedly denounced the arrest warrant issued on March 4 by the ICC over alleged war crimes in the vast Darfur region of western Sudan.

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, in his address to the summit, echoed calls to support Beshir against the ICC.

"We are called upon today, not just to criticise the warrant which ... we are all agreed is politicised, but to reject it categorically," said the Syrian leader.

Beshir was on his fourth trip abroad in defiance of the ICC indictment.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon, who attended the summit opening despite the presence of Beshir, called on Khartoum to reverse its decision to expel 13 aid groups from war-battered Darfur, a measure taken in response to the ICC warrant.

But Beshir instead accused the Security Council of being "undemocratic" and called for the 15-member body to be reformed.

"How could the Security Council referral of the Darfur issue to the so-called ICC be justified while ... America exempts its civilians and military personnel worldwide from the jurisdiction of this court?" he asked.

Assad, meanwhile, said Arab countries do not have a partner in efforts to achieve peace with the Jewish state.

"We Arabs, since we offered the Arab initiative, do not have a real partner in the peace process," he said. "This incoming government ... shows that this Israeli society is not ready for peace."

On Tuesday, representatives of the 22-member Arab League and 12 South American countries will seek a further boost in ties when they hold their second inter-regional summit in Doha.





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