The controversial visit to Beijing by Sudan's President and wanted man Omar al-Bashir may not be happening after all.

Al-Bashir was scheduled to arrive in Beijing Monday morning, but several sources are now saying his plane has returned to Iraq, from where it departed. On Twitter, Wasil Ali, deputy editor of the Sudan Tribune, said sources told him the plane was forced to turn back because of a "risky" flight route. Of course, the delay and confirmed cancelation of al-Bashir's planned meeting with China's President Hu Jintao begs the question of whether China thought the better of the meeting. Al-Bashir is the first sitting head of state wanted on war crimes by the International Criminal Court, over mass killings in the country's Darfur region.