Kenyan court issues arrest order for Sudan’s Bashir

NAIROBI/KHARTOUM, (Reuters) – A Kenyan court today ordered the government to arrest Sudan’s President Omar  al-Bashir, wanted by The Hague on genocide charges, prompting  Sudan to order the expulsion of Kenya’s ambassador and summon  its own envoy from Nairobi.
Kenya was heavily criticised by the International Criminal  Court (ICC) and foreign governments for failing to arrest Bashir  when he attended a ceremony to enact a new Kenyan constitution  in August last year.
The African Union has told its members not to heed the  arrest warrant for Bashir – linked to his government’s crackdown  on rebels in Sudan’s Darfur region – saying the ICC appeared to  be singling out African leaders.
However, as an ICC member state, Kenya is obliged to  cooperate with the court and its arrest warrants.
The Kenyan court ordered Bashir’s arrest after the Kenyan  chapter of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) filed a  suit against the country’s attorney general and the internal  security minister, seeking a new arrest warrant for the Sudanese  leader.
Judge Nicholas Ombija said in his ruling that Bashir should  be apprehended “should he set foot in Kenya in future”.
In response, Sudan gave Kenya’s ambassador in Khartoum 72  hours to leave the country and summoned its own ambassador from  Nairobi, Sudan’s foreign ministry spokesman El-Obeid Morawah  told Reuters.
“Sudan has informed the ambassador of Kenya in Khartoum of a  72-hour deadline to leave the country,” he said, adding the  decision came “on the back of the Kenyan court’s issuance of the  ruling to detain Bashir.”
Sudan’s foreign ministry had earlier dismissed the ruling as  politically motivated, and said it would not affect the  country’s relations with Kenya.
It had said the decision had was linked to Kenya’s domestic  disputes and relations with the ICC more than with the situation  in Sudan.
The ministry had added that it believed activists upset over  the ICC’s “failures” to apprehend suspects and over Bashir’s  successful visits abroad had pushed the court into making a  “political decision”.
ICC judges reported Kenya to the United Nations Security  Council for failing to arrest Bashir.
The Hague-based court has issued two warrants for Bashir,  one dating from March 2009 listing five counts of crimes against  humanity and two counts of war crimes, and one issued in July  2010, listing three counts of genocide.
The ICC has no police force and relies on member states to  enforce its arrest warrants.
Bashir denies the charges, saying they are part of a Western  conspiracy.