Wanted President Bashir now visits Egypt

Sudan says travel meant to defy ICC over arrest warrant issued on March 4

Though close to Washington, Qatar has furthered its maverick image, maintaining close ties with Syria, Iran and Islamist groups Hamas and Hezbollah -- all at odds with Washington and its regional Arab allies.

Meanwhile, armed raiders set fire to a refugee camp in Darfur region, killing at least two people, peacekeepers said today.

The attack on Abu Zor camp, close to regional capital El Geneina, came at a time of heightened tension in Darfur, after the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Sudan’s President.

Darfur’s joint UN/African Union UNAMID peacekeeping force said residents reported four armed men broke into the west Darfur camp just before midnight on Tuesday and started a fire.

“I am in the camp now. The fire went everywhere. It has affected a lot of people,” said UNAMID chief of staff Amgad Morsy, speaking to Reuters by satellite phone mid morning today.

Have since died

“Four people were injured and two have since died,” he said, adding the fire had destroyed about a quarter of the camp, home to about 6,000 people, mostly from the non-Arab Masalit ethnic group. The fire was now under control, he said.

The Masalit were among the ethnic groups that activists say were targeted in a bloody government-led counter-insurgency in Darfur that Washington calls genocide.

There have been numerous reports of clashes between highly politicised residents of camps in West Darfur and militias, often identified as Arab.

Violence has risen sharply since the International Criminal Court issued its warrant against President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir. He responded by expelling 13 foreign aid groups accused of spying for the court. (Reuters)