Riyadh - In his fifth trip abroad since an international court issued a warrant for his arrest, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, Saudi Arabia's official press agency reported.

The Sudanese president will perform the Omrah, a form of Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said. The trip is the latest in a regional tour al-Bashir began soon after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for his arrest on charges of crimes against humanity on March 4.

Al-Bashir had been in Qatar for the 21st Arab League summit on Monday and for the second summit of Latin American and Arab leaders on Tuesday. Both groups expressed their support for the president in his confrontation with the ICC and the UN Security Council.

In a long address at Tuesday's summit, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, whose country is a signatory to the Rome Statue on the ICC and so is obliged by the UN Security Council to act on the warrant if it can, expressed his unequivocal support for al-Bashir.

"Why does the ICC not put (former US President George W) Bush on trial and arrest him for what he did in Iraq?" Chavez asked.

Al-Bashir has scarcely stopped traveling since the court issued its warrant. On March 18, al-Bashir held a rally in the northern Darfur town of al-Fasha, the site of sprawling camps where thousands of people displaced by fighting in the western Sudanese region have gathered for food and shelter.

He subsequently embarked on a tour of the region that took him to Eritrea, Egypt, Libya, Qatar, and now Saudi Arabia. None of these countries are state parties to the Rome Statute on the ICC. UN Security Council Resolution 1593 required Sudan and state parties to the Rome Statute to execute the ICC warrant, but only "urged" non-state parties to do so. (dpa)