KHARTOUM (AFP) – President Omar al-Bashir, who is accused of war crimes, had to fly back to Iran and reroute his trip to China, the Sudanese foreign ministry said on Monday, delaying his controversial visit by a day.
"The presidential plane was flying over Turkmenistan on Sunday, when they chose a new route," the foreign ministry said in a statement carried by Sudan's official SUNA news agency.
"The pilot returned to Tehran, where they arrived at 9:30 pm local time.
"The Sudanese embassy in Beijing and Tehran followed the situation, to look for a new route. President Bashir is expected to arrive in China later today (Monday)," the statement added.
Bashir had been attending a counter-terrorism summit in Tehran on Saturday.
He president is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region, and rights groups have expressed outrage at Beijing's offer to host him.
China is a major military supplier to the regime in Khartoum and the biggest buyer of the country's oil, although the majority of Sudan's oilfields are located in the south, which will become independent next month.
SUNA said in an earlier report that during his three-day visit to China, Bashir and his accompanying delegation would "seek ways to develop relations and the bilateral strategic partnership between the two countries."
Beijing last week defended Bashir's visit, pointing out that he had been warmly welcomed in other countries since his indictment by the ICC.
"It's quite reasonable for China to invite the head of a state that has diplomatic ties with China to come for a visit," foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters.
ICC statutes dictate that any member country should arrest Bashir if he visits. China is not a party to those statutes.
At the weekend, the Sudanese president flew to Tehran, another close ally of Khartoum, for a counter-terrorism summit that was also attended by the leaders of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Tajikistan.
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