http://www.nation.co.ke/News/africa/Kenya+moves+to+ease+tensions+with+Sudan++/-/1066/1282298/-/quv6y9/-/index.html
Kenya moves to ease tensions with Sudan
By PETER LEFTIE pmutibo_at_ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Wednesday, November 30 2011 at 22:00
IN SUMMARY
President in bid to mend relations with Omar al-Bashir after court ruling
Kenya launched a major diplomatic offensive to repair relations with
Sudan on Wednesday after President Omar al-Bashir expelled her
ambassador to Khartoum.
President Kibaki is said to have dispatched a personal envoy to
Khartoum to discuss the diplomatic rift triggered by Monday’s High
Court ruling ordering the police to arrest the Sudanese leader and
hand him over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) if he sets
foot in the country.
The government, at the same time, requested Sudan’s envoy to Kenya
Kamal Ismael Saeed not to leave the country. He had been recalled to
Khartoum following the diplomatic rift occasioned by Justice Nicholas
Ombija’s ruling.
Khartoum ordered Kenya’s ambassador to Sudan, Mr Robert Mutua Ngesu,
to leave the country within 72 hours as relations between the two
countries rapidly deteriorated.
Mr Saeed told the Nation on Wednesday he had been asked not to leave
the country until he holds consultations with Foreign Affairs Minister
Moses Wetang’ula upon his return from Bujumbura, Burundi where he
accompanied President Kibaki to a meeting of the East African
Community.
“I talked to the Foreign Affairs Minister and we agreed that I should
not leave until we discuss the matter when he comes back from
Bujumbura. I believe he will return on Saturday,” the envoy said.
President Al-Bashir is wanted at the ICC for crimes against humanity
and genocide.
The Foreign ministry in Khartoum was quoted by Sudanese media on
Tuesday suggesting that the orders were personally made by President
Al-Bashir.
Mr Saeed confirmed that President Kibaki had requested to send a
personal envoy to Khartoum to iron out the differences, saying the
tension between the two countries was easing.
“I am aware the Kenyan president has asked to send a special envoy to
Khartoum to discuss the matter. The special envoy is going tomorrow.
The turbulence in the relations between Kenya and Sudan is subsiding,”
he said.
The Sudanese Foreign ministry spokesperson Al-Obaid Marawih was also
quoted by the Sudan Tribune saying the decision to expel Kenya’s envoy
to Khartoum was as a result of Nairobi’s delay in denouncing the court
ruling.
He said the decision was intended to send a “strong message” of
protest to the Kenya Government in the wake of the ruling and did not
mean it was severing diplomatic relations.
When Nation called Kenya’s embassy in Sudan, Mr Ngesu was said to be
holed up in a meeting with fellow ambassadors accredited to Khartoum.
Mr Wetang’ula could not be reached for comment as he is attending the
EAC meeting in Burundi while his PS Thuita Mwangi and the Political
and Diplomatic secretary Patrick Wamoto were also in meetings the
whole day.
The chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Foreign
Relations, Mr Adan Keynan, said Justice Ombija’s ruling undermined the
country’s foreign policy.
“Whereas I recognise the inherent independence of the Judiciary, I am
of the opinion that the court ruling was irresponsible and unpatriotic
especially at a time when the government is consolidating support from
African countries in the fight against militancy. The ruling goes
against national interests and it is a slap in the face of our foreign
policy,” he said.
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Received on Wed Nov 30 2011 - 19:27:46 EST