UPDATE 3-Sudan's Bashir to miss OIC summit after EU objected

Sun Nov 8, 2009 7:42pm GMT
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* EU had raised objections to Bashir's visit

* Iran's Ahmadinejad, Afghan Karzai in Istanbul for summit

* Turkish PM says a Muslim could not commit genocide

(Adds Sudanese confirmation that Bashir staying away)

By Ibon Villelabeitia

ISTANBUL, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir pulled out of an Islamic summit in Istanbul on Sunday -- a trip that the European Union had objected to because of his indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC) .

Bashir, against whom the ICC has issued an arrest warrant for crimes against humanity in Sudan's Darfur region, had announced plans to attend a meeting of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) on Monday.

Sudan's state news agency Suna reported that Bashir had postponed his trip to return to Khartoum to discuss a deadlock over election laws with his coalition partners, the former southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement.

Turkey, which has deepened economic ties with Sudan, has not ratified the statute that established the ICC and had said it had no plans to arrest Bashir.  Continued...

 
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