Sudanese president comes to Saudi for pilgrimage

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - The Sudanese president has arrived in Saudi Arabia for a Muslim pilgrimage that will take him to Islam's holy city of Mecca.

The trip is Omar al-Bashir's latest venture abroad despite an international court's order for his arrest for war crimes in Darfur.

The Sudanese Media Center, a news agency with close links to the government in Khartoum, says the president is performing the Omra pilgrimage on Wednesday.

It's one of the lesser pilgrimages compared to the yearly Hajj that Muslims world over undertake.

Al-Bashir arrived in the kingdom from Qatar, where he attended the Arab League summit this week.

It was not immediately known if he would meet any Saudi officials. The king and the foreign minister are abroad.