Indonesia has invited Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir to Jakarta because Sudan is a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and he is a state guest, Foreign Affairs Ministrys spokesperson has said.

"Sudan is a member of the OIC, and Indonesia has invited all OIC member countries as states guests," Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministrys spokesperson, Arrmanatha Nasir, told ANTARA here on Monday.

Indonesia is hosting the 5th OIC Extraordinary Meeting on Palestine and Al Quds Al Sharif in Jakarta on March 6-7.

Nasirs statement was ostensibly to address concerns expressed by some quarters regarding Indonesias invitation to President Bashir, when he is listed as a war criminal by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

"All OIC member states heads were invited, just as the UN invites all its members for any meeting," said Nasir.

The Hague-based ICC issued arrest warrants for Bashir in 2009 and 2010 accusing him of masterminding genocide and other atrocities in his campaign to crush a revolt in the western Darfur region.

"That (ICCs arrest warrant) is an issue between the (Sudanese) head of state and the ICC, and has nothing to do with the OIC," Nasir noted.

Nasir added that Indonesia was more concerned about looking bad if it had not invited all the OIC member countries than by the prospect of any criticism if Sudanese President Bashir accepted the invitation and attended the summit in Jakarta.

"It would be worst if we, as the host country, become picky about who may come or not," he noted.

Hence, Nasir emphasized that Indonesia respects Bashirs attendance in Jakarta as a guest of the OIC Secretary General and President Joko Widodo, the Indonesian head of state.

The 5th OIC Extraordinary Summit meeting, being held in Jakarta on Sunday and Monday on Palestine and Al Quds, is being attended by more than 500 members of delegations from 49 OIC member countries, two observer countries, and five representatives of the United Nations (UN) Security Councils permanent members, and the UN special envoy for the Palestinian-Israeli Negotiations Quartet.(*)

Source: ANTARA