Gaddafi: Foreign forces, including Israel, behind Darfur conflict

Libyan leader calls on International Criminal Court to stop its proceedings against Sudanese president.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Gaddafi 224.88 (photo credit: AP)
Gaddafi 224.88
(photo credit: AP)
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the current African Union president, on Tuesday said that "foreign forces," including Israel, were behind the Darfur conflict. The International Criminal Court is set to due to announce on March 4 whether it will issue a warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir over allegations that he masterminded genocide in Sudan's Darfur region. Gaddafi, addressing a meeting on ways to expand cooperation between the United Nations and African Union, called on the court to stop its proceedings against Bashir, Libyan state news agency Jana reported. "Why do we have to hold President Bashir or the Sudanese government responsible when the Darfur problem was caused by outside parties, and Tel Aviv (Israel), for example, is behind the Darfur crisis?" Gaddafi indicated that the IDF was among those fueling the violence. "It is not a secret. We have found evidence proving clearly that foreign forces are behind the Darfur problem and are fanning its fire," Gaddafi said. "We discovered that some of the main leaders of the Darfur rebels have opened offices in Tel Aviv and hold meetings with the military there to add fuel to the conflict fire."