Wanted Sudanese President Bashir in Equatorial Guinea for summit

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir arrived in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea Tuesday to attend the 4th African-Arab summit on Wednesday.

Equatorial Guinea state TV aired the host President Obiang Nguema receiving the Sudanese leader, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

President Bashir is wanted by ICC for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur, Western Sudan. He was indicted in 2009.

His trip to Equatorial Guinea came hot on the heels of another to Morocco where he attended the climate change summit that concluded last Sunday.

Equatorial Guinea is not a party to the Rome statute that established ICC.

President Bashir’s latest trips abroad also come at a time at least three African states have applied to withdraw from the Rome Statute.

South Africa, Burundi and Gambia have applied to cease their Rome Statute membership.

His visit to South Africa in June 2015 for an African Union summit turned dramatic when a local court ordered his arrest, but the government shielded him and quickly whisked him away.

The Sudan leader's visit to China in 2011 was also dramatic when his plane was forced to skirt the Turkmenistan airspace.

However, the defiant Bashir has made several travels abroad, going to China, India, Mauritania, Egypt, Qatar, the Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

President Idriss Deby of Chad also arrived in Malabo Tuesday, alongside the leaders of Nigeria, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Zambia, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Togo and Niger.

The foreign ministerial meeting concluded on Monday with the "Malabo Declaration'', which aims to boost the economic and development cooperation between the African and Arab countries.

The heads of state and government summit is expected to endorse the declaration.