Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, has arrived in Chad on an official visit despite an international arrest warrant for war crimes and genocide issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC), DPA reported.
It is the first time al-Bashir has entered an ICC member state since the arrest warrant for war crimes in Sudan's Darfur province was issued against him in March 2009.
The ICC has no police force and relies on its member states to arrest suspects, but Chad has said that al-Bashir will not be arrested during his visit.
Rights bodies called on Chad to carry out its obligations to the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the court.
"Chad risks the shameful distinction of being the first ICC member state to harbour a suspected war criminal from the court," said Elise Keppler, International Justice Program senior counsel at Human Rights Watch.
The ICC added three counts of genocide to the warrant this month relating to the long Darfur conflict, which the United Nations says has claimed 300,000 lives.
President Idriss Deby greeted al-Bashir on Wednesday night ahead of a meeting of the Community of Sahel-Saharan States amid thawing relations between the neighbours.
The two nations cut diplomatic relations in the past amid mutual accusations that each was supporting the other's rebel groups in a proxy war.