http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/kenya-sudan-resume-ties-resolve-court-row-ministerKenya,
Sudan resume ties, resolve court row-minister
02 Dec 2011 17:31
Source: reuters // Reuters
* Sudan had ordered expulsion of all Kenyans, trade ban
* Kenya signals will not carry out ICC arrest warrant (Adds details,
quotes)
By James Macharia
NAIROBI, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Sudan has lifted a package of punitive trade and
political measures against Kenya after the countries defused a row over a
Nairobi court order to arrest the Sudanese president, Kenya's foreign
minister said on Friday.
The court this week ordered Kenya's government to carry out an
International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against Sudanese
President Omar Hassan al-Bashir if he sets foot in Kenya.
Sudan quickly announced the expulsion of Kenya's ambassador - and Bashir
also initially ordered other reprisals, including the expulsion of all
other Kenyans in Sudan and the cutting of trade, Kenyan Foreign Minister
Moses Wetangula told reporters.
Wetangula said he and Kenya's Defence Minister Yusuf Haji met Bashir in
Khartoum on Thursday night and managed to resolve the dispute.
"Sudan had set out a raft of reprisals against Kenya that would have had a
negative effect on our economy and country ... We were able to stop these,"
Wetangula said, on his return to Nairobi.
Sudan had agreed to reverse its decision to expel Kenya's ambassador, said
the minister. Asked whether relations between the two countries had
returned to normal, he replied: "In a nutshell, yes."
He did not give details of what assurances he had made to patch up the
disagreement, but signalled Kenya would stick to an African Union decision
not to carry out the ICC warrant.
Asked if the government would arrest Bashir if he came to Kenya, Wetangula
said: "If I was the one making the decision, I would not. I would advise
the president not to arrest him."
"The Kenyan position is that of the African Union," he added.
The ICC has charged Bashir with masterminding genocide and other war crimes
during his country's Darfur conflict.
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.
Kenya has already been criticised by the ICC and foreign governments for
failing to arrest Bashir when he attended a ceremony to enact a new Kenyan
constitution in August last year.
Nairobi has since said it is appealing against the Kenyan court ruling that
it carry out the ICC warrant.
Wetangula said Kenya would also have lost a key market for its tea, coffee
and other products if the row had continued. Sudan bought tea worth $200
million from Kenya last year, but its exports to Kenya were negligible, he
added.
Wetangula said Bashir had ordered that all flights by any airline taking
off or destined to Kenya would not be allowed to fly through Sudan's air
space.
Bashir had ordered all trade ties between Khartoum and Nairobi severed, and
that all Kenyan nationals in Sudan - who he estimated at about 1,000 - be
expelled immediately.
Bashir had also instructed that all Kenyan troops serving in a United
Nations peace force in Darfur be expelled from Sudan, said the minister.
"In this time when Kenya is engaging with the Somali government troops
against al Shabaab, the last thing we need as a country is additional
enemies in our basket," said Wetangula.
Kenya ordered soldiers into Somalia in mid-October to crush the al
Qaeda-linked al Shabaab rebels who it said had attacked its security forces
and tourists inside Kenya. The militants want to topple Somalia's
Western-backed government. (Editing by Duncan Miriri and Andrew Heavens)
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Received on Fri Dec 02 2011 - 13:35:21 EST