AU Urges Bashir to Cooperate On Darfur

The African Union (AU) has urged Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to cooperate with its efforts to resolve the crisis in Darfur in order to ward off the International Criminal Court (ICC) attempt to indict him. AU Commission chairman Jean Ping met Bashir Monday in Khartoum and said the Sudanese leader had promised to back the AU’s new effort under mediator Djibril Bassole, and to cooperate with the UN mission in Darfur. Ping has pushed for such close cooperation with the AU as a way of helping protect Bashir from immediate indictment for genocide in Darfur. [PE]