Libya’s President Muammar Gaddafi, who also serves as African Union president, accused "foreign forces" including Israel of causing the Darfur conflict.
The International Criminal Court is expected to call for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir over allegations that he masterminded genocide in Sudan's Darfur region.
Gaddafi, however, demanded that the Court stop its measures against Bashir: "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?" Although the Libyan leader did not show any evidence that Israel was indeed behind the crisis, he nevertheless stated, “It is not a secret. We have found evidence proving clearly that foreign forces are behind the Darfur problem and are fanning its fire. 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."