Sudan may still expel Kenya envoy after arrest ruling

Written By:Reuters,    Posted: Sun, Dec 04, 2011

The ICC has charged Bashir with masterminding genocide and other war crimes Sudan may still expel Kenya's ambassador after two weeks if Kenya does not take steps to cancel a Nairobi court ruling to arrest Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, the foreign ministry said on Saturday. The court this week ordered Kenya's government to carry out an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against Bashir if he sets foot in Kenya. Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula said on Friday he and Kenya's Defence Minister Yusuf Haji had met Bashir in Khartoum and managed to resolve the dispute. "Sudan will wait a period of two weeks to give a chance for Kenya's efforts to contain the matter and take the required steps," Sudan's foreign ministry spokesman El-Obeid Morawah said in an emailed statement. "Otherwise Sudan will have no choice but to continue in the steps it has begun to expel the Kenyan ambassador and withdraw its ambassador from Nairobi." The ICC has charged Bashir with masterminding genocide and other war crimes during his country's Darfur conflict, accusations Khartoum dismisses. As an ICC member state, Kenya is legally obliged to cooperate with the court and its arrest warrants. But the African Union has told its members to ignore the warrant, because of a perception the court is unfairly targeting African rulers and because it would destabilise Darfur.