CAIRO, July 15: The Arab League’s envoy to Sudan on Tuesday described the indictment of the country’s president on genocide and other charges as a serious blow to peace efforts in Darfur.

The Egyptian diplomat, Salah Halima, told reporters at his office in Cairo that the indictment filed by a prosecutor at the International Criminal Court on Monday will have a negative impact on the stability of a region already beset by internal and cross-border conflict.

Also on Tuesday, Yemen reacted strongly to the court action, the first Arab country to publicly come to the defence of the head of Sudan’s Arab-dominated government. Egypt’s foreign minister also spoke out in support of Sudan’s government, but elsewhere in the Arab world governments have not openly come to the defence of Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir.

Foreign ministers from the 22-nation Arab League will meet on Saturday in response to a request from Sudan for an emergency session.

Yemen’s leader phoned al-Bashir, and its foreign ministry called the indictment “a grave and unacceptable interference in Sudan’s internal affairs and in the affairs of all Islamic and Arab countries.”

The Arab League envoy said the court’s prosecutor overstepped his jurisdiction with the charges accusing al-Bashir of orchestrating campaigns to wipe out ethnic African tribes in Darfur. Sudan is not a member of the Netherlands-based court, the world’s first permanent war crimes tribunal.

In an apparent reference to the United States, Halima accused governments that have themselves refused to recognise the court of pressuring it to go after the Sudanese leader.

“There are countries with political agendas that target Sudan,” he said.—AP