Sudan leader in Qatar for summit

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has arrived in Qatar for an Arab summit due to discuss an indictment against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

He has already visited Egypt, Eritrea and Libya over the past week to drum up support from his neighbours.

Qatar has not signed the ICC charter, which obliges member states to arrest indictees on their territory, but clerics have urged Mr Bashir not to go.

Libya’s leader earlier said the ICC was a “new form of world terrorism”.

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Islamist threat to Turkey’s secular system

Turkish secularism on the ropes. Sharia is advancing in what is always held out to be that exemplary beacon of democracy in the Islamic world, Turkey. The reasons why Sharia supremacists are advancing there have not — unsurprisingly — been sufficiently explored by Western analysts, who of course dismiss out of hand the appeal of a call to restore Islamic authenticity.

“Erdogan Set for Election Win That May Revive Tension Over Islam,” by Ben Holland for Bloomberg, March 27

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to win a fresh mandate from voters that may embolden his challenge to the country’s military and courts, which see him as an Islamist threat to Turkey’s secular system.

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UNSC urges Sudan rethink on aid

The United Nations Security Council has called on Sudan to reconsider its decision to expel foreign aid agencies from the troubled Darfur region.

Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir gave the order after an international arrest warrant was issued against him.

Correspondents say the council’s move is significant as they had previously been unable to agree on a statement.

Sudan has said the humanitarian situation is under control and its decision is irreversible.

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Mystery over Sudan air strike

A Sudanese government minister has confirmed reports of an air raid in eastern Sudan earlier this year.

The minister, Mabrook Mubarak Saleem, told an Arabic news channel that many people had been killed in the strike, said to have taken place last month.

Israeli officials have not commented publicly on reports that their planes may have been involved.

Israel’s Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, did not confirm any raid but said Israel hit everywhere to stop terror.

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Sudan’s defiant Bashir arrives in Egypt

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has ended talks in Egypt on his second trip abroad since the International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for his arrest.

Egypt is not a signatory of the ICC’s charter, which obliges member states to arrest those indicted if they enter their territory.

Mr Bashir – who made a short trip to Eritrea on Monday – is to hold talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Sudan’s leader is accused of war crimes in his country’s Darfur region.

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One million people at risk in Darfur – U.N.

More than one million people in Darfur are at risk of losing food, water and shelter in coming months, following the expulsion of international aid groups by Sudan’s government, the United Nations’ chief humanitarian coordinator said Tuesday.

The statement by coordinator John Holmes comes after a joint U.N.-Sudanese assessment of the situation.

The information was gathered from March 11-18 in hopes of stemming further troubles in Darfur after Sudan’s government expelled 13 international relief organizations from the wartorn region.

The announcement came on the same day that President Omar al-Bashir, now an indicted war criminal, ignored the threat of arrest by traveling abroad to Eritrea. Also Tuesday, a Sudanese staffer working for a Canadian relief group was shot dead in Darfur.

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Aid worker killed in Sudan

A Sudanese aid worker was shot dead in front of his family on Monday night in the war-ravaged region of Darfur, according to aid officials.

Mark Simmons, Sudan country director of Fellowship for African Relief, an aid and development agency that focuses on Sudan, said the aid worker may have been killed for refusing to hand over his satellite phone.

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Sudan bombs Darfur rebels and civilians

Ache Ali has lost four children and a husband.

A Sudanese cattle herder, she rides on a donkey cart with her youngest child, a daughter, wedged between hundreds of other fleeing Sudanese, herds of bleating goats, and other livestock.

“They [the children] ran away three days ago when our village, Buhera, was bombed.” she calls out over the din, hoping for some help.

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Expulsion of aid groups raises risks in Darfur

The sign outside the clinic in Otash camp reads “8-hour service daily.”

On Friday, Haider Ismael al-Amin lay in his mother’s arms, his 10-year-old body withered and weak from dehydration after a night of vomiting. But the door to the clinic was locked. After 30 minutes of waiting, his family gave up.

“The white people used to come every day,” said Hawa Hamal Mohammed, a relative of the boy. “Now the clinic is closed.”

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Darfur rebels to stop peace talks with Sudan

The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), a major rebel group in Darfur, said on Friday it had decided to end peace talks with the Sudanese government until it lets back aid groups expelled from the troubled region.

“The movement cannot negotiate with the government of (Sudanese President Omar Hassan) al-Bashir,” JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim told Reuters by telephone.

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