Ignoring International Warrants, Sudan’s Leader Says He’ll Visit Moscow<br />The invitation to the president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, from President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, presents a new test of Mr. Bashir’s defiance<br />of the international court at The Hague, which issued arrest warrants for him years ago over the genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region.<br />Some Russian news agencies carried a Reuters dispatch about it,<br />and the headline by one agency, RBC, said, "President who is defendant at the International Criminal Court invited to Moscow." There was no immediate comment from the International Criminal Court.<br />But the tone of the announcement about the Russia visit, made by Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour of Sudan<br />and carried via the official Sudan News Agency, suggested that Mr. Bashir intended to go through with it.<br />While Mr. Bashir has visited numerous nations since, he could be arrested if he visits member countries of the International Criminal Court.<br />Those plans were first announced on Jan. 13, but the United States said it would wait 180 days to assess whether Sudan further improves its human rights record<br />and addresses longstanding internal strife and insurgencies including the Darfur conflict.<br />By RICK GLADSTONEJULY 3, 2017<br />Genocide and war-crimes charges have long shadowed Sudan’s president, sometimes forcing him to scrap or<br />alter travel abroad to avoid the risk of arrest and extradition to the International Criminal Court.
