CAIRO, Sept 16, 2012 (AFP)
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, was due in Cairo on Sunday for talks with President Mohamed Morsi, the presidency said.
An airport official said Bashir was expected to arrive in the Egyptian capital early afternoon.
The two-day visit is his first to Egypt since Islamist Morsi’s election in June, following a popular uprising last year that toppled Hosni Mubarak.
Both Egypt and Sudan have been reeling from violent protests sparked by a low-budget film, produced in the United States, that mocks Islam and the Prophet Mohammed.
Ahead of Bashir’s trip, Amnesty International called on Egypt to withdraw its invitation to the Sudanese leader “and arrest him if he travels to Cairo.”
“If Egypt welcomes Omar al-Bashir it will become a safe haven for alleged perpetrators of genocide,” said Marek Marczynski, Amnesty International Justice Research, Policy and Campaign Manager.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued two arrest warrants in 2009 and 2010 against Bashir, who is accused of genocide and crimes against humanity in the western Sudanese region of Darfur.
Egypt has in the past ignored the warrants, with Bashir visiting Cairo in 2009, weeks after the first warrant was issued, and in 2011 to meet the military rulers who took power after Mubarak’s overthrow.
