Tripoli (dpa) – Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir used a visit to Libya Saturday to accuse the slain leader Muammar Gaddafi of causing suffering to both the Libyans and Sudan. “The regime of Gaddafi is responsible for the suffering being experienced by Libya,” said al-Bashir as he started his first visit to Libya since Gaddafi's capture and killing last October. “Sudan came second in the rank of the suffering caused by Gaddafi,” al-Bashir was quoted Saturday as saying by the Libyan state news agency. Al-Bashir had arrived at the Tripoli airport where he was received by the head of Libya's ruling Transitional National Council, Mustafa Abdul Jalil. The Sudanese leader pledged to “open a new page” with post-Gaddafi Libya. Al-Bashir and Gaddafi had an uneasy relationship, as Khartoum had accused Gaddafi of helping Darfur rebels against Sudanese government forces. Human Rights Watch Saturday criticized Libya's new rulers for welcoming al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for involvement in crimes against humanity. “Following the end of decades of brutal rule in Libya, it is disturbing if Tripoli hosts a head of state on the run from international arrest warrants for grave human rights violations,” Richard Dicker, the international justice director at the New York-based watchdog, said in a statement. In 2009, al-Bashir became the first head of state to be charged by the Hague-based International Criminal Court, which issued a warrant for his arrest over atrocities in Darfur. The crimes against humanity charge was later expanded to include genocide. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/3NX5I Tags: Diplomacy, Omar al-Bashir, Trip Section: Latest News, Libya, Sudan
