Arab leaders snub al-Bashir warrant

Arab Leaders meeting in Doha, the Qatari capital, have rejected an international arrest warrant for Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president accused of war crimes in Darfur.In a draft communique issued at the end of the first day of the 21st Arab League summit on Monday, the leaders said they considered the warrant to be in violation of the Vienna agreement of 1961.It stated that any efforts to address the situation in Darfur would need an agreement between all Sudanese factions, rather than the trial of the president."We emphasise our solidarity to the Sudan and our dismissal and rejection of the decision handed down by the International Criminal Court [ICC]," Amr Moussa, the Arab League secretary-general, read from the communique. He said that the decision to arrest al-Bashir was aimed "at undermining the unity and stability of Sudan".