Al-Bashir has been indicted on seven chrages of war crimes and crimes against humanity [File: AFP]

"The understanding is that he will not be coming," James Mugume, the permanent secretary of Uganda's foreign affairs ministry, said on Friday.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has ordered al-Bashir's arrest on seven charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan's western Darfur region.

Mugume said that al-Bashir's invitation to the Smart Partnership Dialogue from July 23-26 in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, still stood, but a senior Sudanese official would be sent instead to "avoid embarrassment and inconvenience".

"It's a codeword for an agreement that President Bashir delegates another senior cabinet-ranked person. That was agreed," he said.

The Sudanese envoy in Kampala had earlier indicated that al-Bashir was considering making the trip, which would have been his first to a country party to the ICC since the warrant was issued in March.

'Diplomatic incident'

Isaac Musumba, Uganda's East Africa and regional affairs minister, told parliament on Wednesday that the arrest warrant could make any visit by al-Bashir problematic for Uganda, which is bound to arrest the Sudanese president under the Rome statutes that set up the ICC.

"We wish to avoid a possible diplomatic incident that may arise as a result of a visit by President Bashir," he said.

"The government is therefore diplomatically engaging the government of the Sudan with a view to ensuring that, while the  invitation to President Bashir still stands, a possible diplomatic incident is avoided."

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor at the ICC, had reminded Kampala of its obligations to detain al-Bashir during a visit earlier in the week.

Thirty African nations have signed up to the Rome statutes but the African Union, which includes Uganda, earlier this month decided that it would not co-operate with the arrest warrant.

Yoweri Museveni, Uganda's president, was the first head of state to invite the ICC to investigate crimes committed on its soil, leading to the eventual indictments of five members of the Lord's Resistance Army rebel group.

The United Nations estimates that 300,000 people have been killed since the conflict broke out in Darfur in 2003. Khartoum says only 10,000 people have died.

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