CAIRO, Egypt - The Egyptian government is working to delay any formal indictment of Sudan's president by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide in Darfur, Egyptian state media reported Tuesday.
Egypt has been among Sudan's strongest regional backers, and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak made a rare visit to Sudan on Monday.
"Sudan is going through very difficult circumstances," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit was quoted as saying by the state-run MENA news agency. "We are working ... to delay any charges or the court taking up this case."
A prosecutor for the Netherlands-based war crimes tribunal recommended in July that an arrest warrant be issued against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges of genocide and war crimes in Darfur.
The Darfur conflict, which began with an uprising by rebel fighters in 2003, has claimed 300,000 lives and displaced more than 2.5 million people. Government and militia forces have been accused of committing atrocities against civilians.
Al-Bashir is the first sitting head of state to face charges of genocide at the ICC. The tribunal's judges are expected to make a decision about an arrest warrant in weeks.
"We talked about the issue of Darfur for a long time," Mubarak told reporters Monday in Khartoum, Sudan's capital.
The 22-member Arab League asked Qatar in July to spearhead an Arab effort to end the crisis.
Arabs hope that brokering a peace settlement in Darfur would halt the ICC's efforts to bring al-Bashir to trial.
The League has said the genocide charges against Sudan's leader were not acceptable and undermine that country's sovereignty.
