U.S. Condemns Visa Request from ICC-Wanted Bashir

Khartoum insisted Tuesday that Washington is obliged to grant Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir a visa to attend the U.N. General Assembly despite a warrant for his arrest on war crimes charges.

The Sudanese foreign ministry said that as host nation of U.N. headquarters in New York, the United States had no choice but to facilitate his attendance as head of state of a member nation.

If Bashir were to attend next week's opening session, it would be his first visit since before the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against him in 2009 and 2010 for suspected war crimes in Darfur.

"Sudan insists on its right to take part in the meetings of the 68th General Assembly of the United Nations and requests the United States to meet its obligations as the headquarters' host nation by granting the necessary entry visas as quickly as possible," a ministry statement said.

The ministry stressed that Bashir would visit U.N. headquarters only and would merely pass through U.S. territory en route.

Washington revealed on Monday that Khartoum had lodged the visa application for Bashir to travel to New York.

It condemned the request but did not specify whether it had rejected it or would arrest the Sudanese president if he set foot on U.S. soil on his way to U.N. headquarters, considered extra-national territory.

"We condemn any potential effort by President Bashir to travel to New York, given that he stands accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said.

"Before presenting himself to U.N. headquarters, President Bashir should present himself to the ICC in The Hague to answer for the crimes of which he's been accused."

The first sitting head of state to be targeted by an ICC warrant, Bashir faces charges of crimes against humanity and genocide for atrocities committed in Sudan's Darfur region.

Nations that have signed on to the world's only permanent court for war crimes and crimes against humanity have a legal obligation to arrest any indicted suspect found within their territory.

However, several African ICC members have allowed visits, and some African Union members and officials have criticized the Bashir indictments.