By Mohammed Taha Tewekel and Addis Getachew
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia
India will host the third India-Africa summit in its capital, New Delhi, in October - and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has an invite.
"Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir has been invited," an African diplomatic source told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.
The source said he expected the recent turmoil surrounding al-Bashir's South Africa visit to dissuade him from traversing outside his own country.
The Sudanese president closely escaped being arrested and being turned over to the International Criminal Court while attending an African Union summit in Johannesburg.
Despite this, the source said there were many reasons why al-Bashir would attend the summit, which will take place between Oct. 26 and 30.
"The host country has already formally invited the leaders of all 54 states in Africa," the source said, adding: "African leaders have already demonstrated solidarity against the court – a court that seems to have lost its credibility in Africa."
The source added: "India has no incentive to arrest Al-Bashir since it is not a member of the ICC and therefore not legally obliged to do so."
"South African law was outpaced by a collective political decision by African leaders," the source said referring to the African Union summit turmoil. "The leaders must have lobbied against the arrest Al-Bashir."
"Another reason why Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir would not fear the possibility of arrest is that all the countries he would have to cross from Sudan to India are ones that have amicable relations with Sudan," the source added.
The India-Africa summit is expected to be attended by nearly 1,000 delegates, including heads of state, ministers, government officials, business leaders and others.
The summit was originally scheduled for December 2014, but was postponed due to the Ebola scare.
