Bashir Attends Kenyan Fete in Defiance of ICC Warrant

Kenya has joined Chad in declining to arrest President Omar Bashir of Sudan who has an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for attrocities committed in Darfur region in Western Sudan.

Omar Bashir who in the last few minutes has driven to State House where the Kenyan President is hosting a party to mark the promulgation of new Kenyan constitution did not find anything wrong in Flying to Nairobi to attend this Kenyan fete inspite of Kenya being a a signatory of Rome statutes which require the signatory Governments to facilitate the arrest of all persons bearing such arrest warrants.

This is inspite of Bashir refusing or fearing to attend the African Union meeting held in Uganda last month though the Ugandan President's assuarance that the arrest won't be effected.

Kenya is now in a very dicey situation since it also has some outstanding issues with ICC resulting from the Post electral violence in 2007.Some names of Key politicians and Businessmen who were alleged to have fueled the violence were forwarded to ICC for investigation and subsequent prosecution at ICC in Hague.

Kenyan government has consistently given assuarances of cooperation in both investigations and subsequent arrest and prosecution of these unnamed individuals.

The big dillemma that this visit by Bashir poses to Kenyan government and the international Community is whether Kenya is really committed to cooperating with ICC if it cannot arrest Bashir who already has an arrest warrant issued in his name.

The other big question is why Bashir feared to fly to Kampala,Uganda while he can leisurely fly to Nairobi.

Is it that Uganda is more committed to ICC than Kenya because one of its sons,John Kony of Lords Resistance Army also has a warrant of arrest issued by ICC and would like to be seen to cooperate so that this rebel who is a headache to Museveni government is arrested whenever his time is up.

There has been allegations peddled by Uganda government that Kony is hosted in southern Sudan.

May be the threat to arrest Bashir in Uganda is in return of favour to the Sudan's government failure to arrest Kony in its own territorial borders.

Kenya on the other hand wants to assuage Sudan's nerves in the forthcoming referandum which may give total autonomy to the war ravaged Southern Sudan where Kenya has vested economic interests.

It would in this case be in the interest of Kenyan Government that southern Sudan becomes the newest indipendent country in Africa early next year.

Politics surely defies any logical analysis!