We'll not arrest Bashir, Wetangula says

By STEVE MKAWALE

Kenya will not enforce the warrant of arrest issued against Sudan President Omar al Bashir by the High Court.

Addressing journalists at Wilson Airport in Nairobi soon after landing from Khartoum where he met Bashir over the diplomatic row, Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula, said the Government has already appealed against the ruling.

"The Government stand on the warrant is clear; the Attorney General has been instructed to file an appeal against the decision," said the minister who was accompanied by his Defence counterpart Yusuf Haji.

Wetangula said his utterances and criticisms against the order issued by Justice Nicholas Ombija was not an attack against the Judiciary but a personal opinion.

"People voice views against judgements or court rulings everyday. I voiced my views on the ruling as a minister in Kenya and as a lawyer of long standing legal reputation," he said.

The minister revealed that Bashir had set out a raft of reprisals that would have had serious economic and security implications against Kenya.

"President Bashir had instructed his administration that all planes flying to and from Kenya not to use Sudan airspace," said the minister.

Bashir had further planned to severe trade deals with Kenya including exportation of tea that fetches more than Sh200 million per annum. Besides expelling the Kenyan envoy to Sudan, the President had also planned to send away more than 1,000 Kenyans and 500 students.

Wetangula, however, said they have managed to calm down the Sudanese leader and assured him that the Government would not arrest him.

"We held a lengthy meeting with Bashir and he also gave us a letter, whose content we do not know, to deliver to President Kibaki. It is a sealed letter," said the minister.

He said Kenya would not want to have enemies in the region especially at this time when the country’s military is engaged in a joint operation with the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia soldiers to flush out Al Shabab.

He said the Government’s decision to appeal against the warrant was also informed by IGAD position, which supports the African Union stand on the ICC arrest warrants against the Sudanese leader.