(Adds Gul quote paragraphs 15-16) By Zerin Elci and Thomas Grove ISTANBUL, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, on his first trip abroad since the International Criminal Court moved to indict him for war crimes, on Tuesday denied that his forces had committed genocide in Darfur. Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo last month asked the court to issue an arrest warrant for Bashir on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, saying his state apparatus had killed 35,000 people and indirectly at least another 100,000. Bashir, who has defied the ICC and calls the court's move part of a neo-colonialist agenda to protect the interests of developed countries, said that his government forces were not responsible for crimes in Darfur. "We are not committing genocide in Darfur," Bashir told Turkish President Abdullah Gul during a meeting in Istanbul, according to a Turkish official close to the talks. "We are saddened by the events there," Bashir was quoted as saying. The two men, who met for 30 minutes in an Ottoman-era palace by the Bosphorus Strait on the sidelines of a Turkey-Africa economic summit, did not discuss the ICC or the case against Bashir. Bashir does not accept the legitimacy of the court. NATO member Turkey has not ratified the treaty forming the ICC but is under pressure to become a member as part of negotiations to join the European Union. ICC judges could take weeks or months to issue a warrant, but have never failed to issue one after a prosecutor has requested it. Sudan has warned the United Nations of "serious consequences" for its staff and facilities if an arrest warrant is issued, a U.N. envoy told the Security Council on Monday. OIL FIELDS Abdelmahmood Abdelhaleem, permanent Sudanese representative to the U.N., echoed Bashir's defiance in comments to reporters. "The president can go anywhere and is not afraid of anything," he said. "Our president will never be arrested as long we are alive. As long as we are living nothing will happen to our president." African and Arab states are pushing for the suspension of moves by the court to indict Bashir and say they could hamper efforts to bring peace to Darfur. International experts estimate 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been driven from their homes in Darfur since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing the central government in Khartoum of neglect. U.S.-based Human Rights Watch has called on Turkey to express its support for the court during Bashir's visit. Gul, who asked Bashir to give priority to Turkish investors in Sudanese oil fields, said they had talked about Darfur and the suffering there. "We have to pay attention to human rights. The blood and the tears there must stop. Whatever happens the pain of the people there has to be put to an end," Gul told a news conference. The summit in Istanbul was attended by senior political figures from some 40 African countries, with which Turkey wants to build ties to tap into the continent's vast energy resources. Turkey, which has signed liquefied gas agreements with Algeria, is trying to boost investment in and trade with sub-Saharan Africa, following similar moves by emerging powerhouses China and India. In recent years, Turkey has boosted its investment in Sudan. (Writing by Ibon Villelabeitia, editing by Tim Pearce)
Three-year-old Iraqi Muhammad Sudani is embraced by his father at the King Hussein Cancer Centre in Amman August 19, 2008. Muhammad, who is suffering from leukaemia, is one of the few ...
