UN: Sudan cancels president's assembly appearance

Sudan has cancelled its president's appearance at the annual meeting of world leaders this week, a United Nations spokesman said today.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir would have been the first head of state to address the General Assembly while facing international war crimes and genocide charges. He faces two International Criminal Court indictments for crimes linked to the conflict in the western Darfur region of Sudan, where an estimated 300,000 people have died since 2003. A l-Bashir had been scheduled to speak Thursday at the U.N., but Martin Nesirky, spokesperson for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said in an email that Sudan had cancelled the appearance.

Calls and emails to the Sudanese mission to the UN were not immediately returned.