Johannesburg — SA FACES a diplomatic dilemma. It invited Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to president-elect Jacob Zuma's inauguration on Saturday, but hopes he will stay away as the government would have to arrest him for alleged war crimes.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for al-Bashir's arrest in March, accusing him of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region of Sudan. In retaliation, al-Bashir suspended major western aid agencies in his country.

A source in the Presidency said yesterday that although Al-Bashir was invited it would not be in his interests to come to SA.

"If he does, that will create a situation, and we would be forced to arrest him, and we don't want that," he said.

As a signatory to the Rome Statute on the ICC, SA would be compelled to arrest him should he visit here.

Government spokesman Themba Maseko confirmed that al-Bashir had been invited, along with other heads of state, but said his presence was "not advisable".

Foreign affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa would not comment on the dilemma Pretoria faces, saying only that Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma would give a "comprehensive briefing" on the matter tomorrow.

Foreign affairs director-general Ayanda Ntsaluba said last week confirmation had been received from 41 countries. Of these, 21 would be represented by their heads of state, and the rest by senior officials, mainly foreign ministers and special envoys.

Ntsaluba acknowledged that the al-Bashir indictment could present a problem.

"We hope that in the interests of the relations between SA and Sudan we will not have an unfortunate event," he said.

Al-Bashir will be a candidate in the presidential election in his country next year, Sudan's first multiparty poll in nine years.

When the arrest warrant was issued, the African Union appointed former president Thabo Mbeki to lead mediation efforts to have it quashed or suspended on the grounds that it would jeopardise Sudan's delicate peace process.

While peace has returned to southern Sudan, after decades of civil war, the conflict in Darfur, which began in 2003, escalated into ethnic cleansing of non-Arabs. These hostilities have claimed more than 200000 lives.