Sudan expels Kenyan envoy after Bashir arrest warrant

By Standard Team, Posted November 29, 2011

The diplomatic standoff between Kenya and Sudan worsened after Khartoum kicked out the Kenyan envoy, even as President Kibaki strove to end the crisis likely to redefine regional relations.

 So serious is the Government taking the falling out with Sudan that President Kibaki held crisis talks with top Government officials in Nairobi, even as Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetangula announced the Government will ask the Attorney General to appeal against the court ruling that sparked the row. Wetangula also said Kenya will not respond to Khartoum’s decision by expelling its envoy in Nairobi.

On Tuesday evening, as the Kibaki envoy in Khartoum flew back home as a consequence of Nairobi court’s order for arrest of President Omar Al-Bashir should he step on Kenyan soil again, the President was in Burundi in another round of talks to mend fences with Sudan. But first he again met the Government’s chief legal advisor and Foreign Minister who went ahead of him.

The dilemma facing the President and the country was that an independent and recently reformed Judiciary gave the ruling, but to Sudan and even the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (Igad), which Kibaki has chaired before, "courts cannot work in isolation".

Sudan President Omar El Bashir. Sudan expelled Kenya's ambassador after the High Court issued a warrant of arrest against Bashir [Photo:Reuters ]

Igad also went further and declared a political and not a judicial decision, meaning trial by International Criminal Court, would resolve the Sudan crisis.

Peace talk

It added that Al-Bashir was one of the cornerstones to the peace process and pointed out that besides being a signatory to ICC process, which has indicted Al-Bashir and want him arrested, Kenya has "legitimate and strategic interest in ensuring peace and stability in the sub-region."

Igad anchored its arguments on the fact that Kenya is a signatory to the Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement and risked jeorpadising the peace talks led by Igad when it appears to be leaning towards the ICC option.

"Igad as a regional body reiterates the African Union position on this matter, the search for justice should be pursued in a manner not detrimental to the search for peaces,’’ read the statement issued by the Executive Secretary Mahboub Maalim.

But even more discomforting to the Kenyan Government is the fact that it also has its problems with ICC for which it has sought the support of Igad and the African Union in securing a deferral of the cases against six of its high-profile citizens.

To be seen to be the State ready to handover Al-Bashir to ICC would not only undermine the support Kenya seeks from AU and Igad, but cast it as a nation practicing double-standards and unreliable on fronting the regional agenda.

But then the Government cannot meddle with the decision of the courts without drawing criticism the Executive is not only flouting the Constitution, but is also lynching the Judiciary.

Still beside the simmering storm is the perception that the ruling by Justice Nicholas Ombija is humiliating to President Kibaki who last year hosted Al-Bashir during the promulgation of the Constitution despite ICC request to member States to arrest him and hand him over to The Hague if he steps on their soil.

President Kibaki summoned a crisis meeting of top Government officials at his Harambee House office to discuss the matter before he flew to Burundi for an East African Community meeting. It was in Bujumbura that he met Wetangula and the AG Githu Muigai.

Those who attended the Nairobi meeting included Internal Security minister George Saitoti, Head of Civil service Francis Muthaura, and Foreign Affairs Minister Permanent Secretary Thuita Mwangi, among others.

Sources in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Government was working to assure Sudan that it had no role whatsoever in the issuance of the court warrant and was considering appealing the decision. "The issue will also be resolved diplomatically and also through Igad, which is currently chaired by President Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia," said the source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In his ruling, Justice Ombija said Al-Bashir’s arrest "should be effected by the Attorney General and the Minister for Internal Security should he ever set foot in Kenya".

Sudan swiftly responded to the court order recalling its ambassador to Kenya Beder el din Abdalla Mohammed and giving the Kenyan counterpart 72 hours to leave Sudan.

On Tuesday evening, the Government of Sudan released a statement again expressing its disappointment with the ruling.

"This ruling has to do with the sovereignty of Sudan and it is very difficult for the Sudan Government to accept the interference of an international NGO to hamper the relations between the two countries,’’ it said in a statement.

It further said due to the political nature of ICC process in the Sudan file, the African Union-member countries had agreed not to co-operate with the ICC and all African countries should abide by that resolution.

The sources said President Kibaki was of the view that the matter needed to be sorted out diplomatically and the cordial relationship between the two countries restored.

"But as you know the President can do nothing because that was a court order delivered by reformed Judiciary and there is separation of powers between the three arms of government and the Executive cannot interfere," a source at the office president told The Standard after the meeting.

Source: The Standard

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