Sudan: Iranian President arrives for visit

Khartoum, 28 Feb. (AKI) - Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Sudan on Wednesday for a two-day visit to the country, which like Iran is currently under pressure from the United Nations. Ahmadinejad wad greeted at Khartoum airport by Sudanes president Omar el-Bashir. Sudan continues to face international criticism for policies in the country's ethnically troubled Darfur region where government forces have been accused of colluding with local Arab militias in the murder and rape of the region's African ethnic groups. Khartoum has repeatedly refused to allow UN peacekeepers to deploy in Darfur.

On Tuesday the International Criminal Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands released what it said was evidence implicating former Sudanese interior minister Ahmed Haroun, the current humanitarian affairs minister, in the killings of civilians in Darfur. Khartoum has rejected ICC jurisdiction to try those it intends to indict for crimes in Darfur.

Iran on the other hand ins under fire for its controversial nuclear development programme with the United States and several European nations pressing the UN to impose sanctions on Tehran.