World Bulletin/News Desk

Sudan on Monday summoned Jordanian ambassador in Khartoum Aa'ed Jameel al-Darajeh to protest his country's recent support for an International Criminal Court (ICC) report on alleged crimes committed in the western Darfur region.

On December 13, ICC Chief Prosecutor General Fatou Bensouda submitted a report to the United Nations Security Council about alleged crimes committed in Darfur, which was supported by Jordan's UN permanent envoy.

The report called on the Security Council to pile pressure on "suspects" – Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Defense Minister Abdel-Rehim Mohamed Hussein, among others, in this case – to appear in court.

"We have notified the Jordanian ambassador of Khartoum's condemnation of the speech made by Jordan's permanent envoy at the United Nations," Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Yousif al-Kordofani said in a statement.

He called on Jordan to present an official apology for its support for the report, which he described as "contradicting with brotherly relations between Sudan and Jordan".

In 2005, the UN Security Council referred the conflict in Darfur to the ICC to look into claims that government troops and rebels had committed war crimes.

Khartoum refuses to cooperate with the court, saying it had not signed the statute, which established the court.

The Darfur conflict, which has been ongoing since 2003 between the Sudanese army, on one hand, and three rebel movements, on the other, had left up to 300,000 people dead so far and displaced more than 2.5 others, according to UN statistics.

The Sudanese government, however, looks with suspicion at these figures.