UN to meet over Sudan aid crisis - Libya holds UN Security Council presidency this month

UN Security Council is to meet over Sudan aid crisis. A Libyan diplomat told Reuters that his country's delegation, which holds the UN Security Council's presidency this month, would raise requests from the Arab League and African Union to meet council members to discuss suspending the ICC's proceedings against Sudanese President al-Bashir.

Source: Aljazeera 6 March 2009 - UN to meet over Sudan aid crisis - excerpts:

The United Nations Security Council is to meet to discuss Sudan's decision to expel several aid groups from the country following the indictment of its president for war crimes, diplomats say.

The council will also reportedly receive a briefing from a UN humanitarian official on the troubled region of Darfur, where about 4.7 million people depend on aid, the diplomats said. [...]

A Libyan diplomat told Reuters that his country's delegation, which holds the council's presidency this month, would raise requests from the Arab League and African Union to meet council members to discuss suspending the ICC's proceedings against al-Bashir. [...]

Meanwhile the UN's main human rights office also said on Friday it would examine whether Sudan's decision to expel the groups marked a breach of basic human rights and possibly a war crime, a spokesman said.

"To knowingly and deliberately deprive such a huge group of civilians of means to survive is a deplorable act,'' said Rupert Colville, spokesman for Navi Pillay, the UN human rights chief.

"To punish civilians because of a decision by the ICC is a grievous dereliction of the government's duty to protect its own people." [...]

Note, on 2 February 2009 Libyan leader Col Gaddafi became chairman of the African Union for a year, replacing the Tanzanian President, Jakaya Kikwete. "I shall continue to insist that our sovereign countries work to achieve the United States of Africa," he said in his inaugural speech.