Sudan’s Bashir late for China meeting

The list of countries willing to roll out the red carpet for Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir shortened dramatically when he was indicted for war crimes, crimes against humanity and, later, genocide by the International Criminal Court in 2009.

Since then Bashir’s foreign travels have been somewhat curtailed by his fear of arrest by any of the 114 countries (31 in Africa) that have signed up to the ICC.

Both Chad and Kenya chose to ignore their obligations to arrest Bashir when he turned up. Nevertheless the pariah president must have felt a flutter of nervousness when he stepped off the plane in both countries.

Not so this week as he makes his way to China which disdains the ICC almost as thoroughly as Bashir.

China is a longtime ally of Khartoum, a big recipient of its oil and a big provider of its arms, used to such deadly effect in Darfur and, in recent weeks in Abyei and South Kordofan.

Bashir was due to arrive in Beijing early on Monday morning but problems with his aeroplane over Turkmenistan caused an emergency return to Iran (another ICC recalcitrant) where he had been visiting at the weekend.

Meetings with President Hu Jintao are being rescheduled. The two presidents are expected to discuss the coming division of Sudan and Bashir will seek to reassure China that their investments – predominately in oil – are safe.

Before leaving Khartoum Bashir said the south’s independence next month risked triggering “time bombs”.

China is one of a few countries in the world with real influence over Khartoum but its policy of non-interference means it rarely does more than treat African countries as emerging marketplaces in which to buy resources and sell consumer goods.