Sudan president 'won't attend UN' as death toll from Khartoum riots rises

Sudan's fugitive president Omar al-Bashir will not attend the U.N. General Assembly, a U.N. official said Thursday, as violence continued in the country's capital of Khartoum.

A U.N. official told Reuters by email that Bashir - who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of orchestrating war crimes and genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan - would not be coming to New York but did not provide further details.

Bashir's absence at the General Assembly comes as the death toll from days of rioting in Sudan’s capital Khartoum continues to climb. At least 29 people have died in the protests against a government decision to scrap subsidies on fuel, medical officials have said.

Rioting started Monday after Sudan's Council of Ministers lifted fuel subsidies, immediately doubling prices. Oil prices at the pump have shot up to $4.71 a gallon from $2.83; diesel has risen to $3.16 a gallon from $1.90. Inflation in Sudan is already running at 40 percent.

The protests are the largest in Sudan since Bashir came to power in 1989.

It is not known what role the rioting has had in the reported decision by the fugitive president not to come to New York.

Despite an outstanding warrant for his arrest from the ICC, Bashir had said as late as Sunday that he planned to attend the U.N. General Assembly and had already booked a hotel in New York.

The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, said earlier this week that Bashir’s proposed trip would be “deplorable" and "hugely inappropriate” after the Obama administration confirmed that it had received Bashir’s visa application.

Washington has led calls for Bashir to face international justice over bloodshed in the now decade-old conflict in Darfur and the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Samantha Power, had previously called Bashir's intention to travel to New York "deplorable."

A U.S. official had said on Wednesday that a decision on Bashir's visa request had not yet been made.

Al Jazeera and Reuters