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Khartoum: The United Nations was airlifting staff out of Darfur for a second day on Wednesday with peacekeepers on alert following a deadly attack and moves to charge Sudan's President with war crimes.
The "relocation" operation hit a snag on Tuesday when about 50 people bused to the airport in Al Fasher, capital of North Darfur where the UN-led peacekeeping mission is based, were unable to fly out for technical reasons.
"One flight left this morning with the people from last night. Two more flights scheduled for [yesterday]," said Josephine Guerrero, spokeswoman for the joint African Union-United Nations mission called UNAMID.
At least one flight was bound for Entebbe, Uganda, and another for Al Obeid, capital of Northern Kordofan in central Sudan.
About 150 staff were scheduled to leave yesterday, including those delayed. Thirty-two staff left Nyala, capital of South Darfur, on Tuesday.
Arab League
Arab League Secretary General Amr Mousa said yesterday that he will travel to Khartoum this weekend following a request by the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor to arrest President Omar Al Bashir.
Mousa told reporters he would leave for Khartoum on Sunday, the day after an extraordinary meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo.
The Arab League said yesterday a decision by ICC prosecutor to charge Al Bashir with genocide may not have been well thought out, and it was concerned about repercussions.
"The situation is very serious and very dangerous," Mousa told reporters. "At the same time, we are not convinced that the steps taken [by] the criminal court were well considered."
UNAMID officials fear a violent backlash after ICC sought an arrest warrant against Al Bashir. The numbers leaving are a fraction of the some 10,000 UNAMID staff deployed the wartorn western region of Sudan. Officals said staff could return within days or weeks if the mission downgrades its security alert.
Withdraw from ICC
A Bahraini lawmaker urged Arab leaders to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) as a protest against genocide charges against Sudan President.
Ganem Al Buaneen, First Deputy Speaker of Bahrain's parliament, told Gulf News yesterday that Arab leaders and Arab League should react fast and not assign only Arab foreign ministers to deal with the issue.
He recommended a summit to review the matter and said that such charges by ICC, which is affiliated to the United Nations, were clear evidence that the court had lost its legal credibility and is similar to other international organisations influenced by Anti-Arab countries.
"The arrest warrant couldn't be justified as ICC never issued such warrant against a state president, and why the court didn't try other options before deciding to arrest a nation leader," he asked.
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