No Sudanese will ever be tried abroad: Beshir

ISTANBUL (AFP) — Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, named as a possible war crimes suspect in Darfur, said here Wednesday that no citizen of his country would ever be handed over to international justice.

"We categorically reject that any Sudanese be tried outside Sudan... We will never surrender any citizen to be tried abroad," Beshir told a news conference in Istanbul, where he attended a cooperation meeting of Turkish and African leaders.

Beshir's visit to Istanbul was his first trip abroad since a prosecutor of The Hague-based International Criminal Court asked last month for his arrest on 10 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in the war-ravaged region of Darfur.

Beshir said the prosecutor's move was encouraging rebels in Darfur to fuel unrest to unseat the government.

"The attempt to use the so-called international justice against the country... is an attempt to encourage rebel groups opposing peace to continue destruction and destabilisation... to topple the regime in Sudan," he said through an interpreter.

Sudan has "its own judicial institutions... (and) is capable of trying anyone who violates justice," he added, stressing that some members of the military were already put on trial.

Sudan flatly refuses to recognise or having any dealings with the ICC, and has launched a diplomatic campaign to freeze any proceedings against Beshir.

Many African and Arab states have also called on the court not to interfere in Darfur, arguing that its drive to prosecute war crimes could harm efforts to bring peace to the troubled region.

Beshir said the situation in Darfur had notably improved, claiming that 80 percent of the region now enjoyed peace and that no epidemics and starvation were plaguing its people.

Human rights activists have criticised Turkey for hosting Beshir at the two-day Turkey-Africa Cooperation Summit and urged Ankara to reject any effort to suspend the ICC investigation.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul, who met Beshir Tuesday, said he told the Sudanese leader "that the suffering (in Darfur) must definitely stop... that human rights must be respected... and that the Sudanese government should make great efforts to that end."

Turkey organised the gathering in a bid to boost political and economic ties with Africa and drum up support for its bid for a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council for 2009-2010.

Leaders of about 50 African countries attended the summit, which was to end later Wednesday.