Kenya Court Issues Warrant for Arrest of Sudan's Bashir
A Kenyan court issued an arrest warrant Monday for Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, wanted by the International Criminal Court on genocide charges.
Though Kenya has ratified the founding the ICC's founding Rome statute, it failed to arrest the Sudanese leader when he visited the country in August 2010.
Monday's high court ruling means that his arrest "should be effected by the Attorney General and the Minister for Internal Security should he ever set foot in Kenya," Judge Nicolas Ombija said.
Bashir is the subject of two arrest warrants issued by the ICC for atrocities committed in Darfur in western Sudan. The first was issued in March 2009 on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The second was issued in July 2010 on charges of genocide.
The Sudanese President in August 2010 attended a ceremony in Nairobi to mark the adopting of Kenya's new constitution.
As a signatory of the ICC's founding treaty, Kenya was theoretically obliged to arrest Bashir when he entered the country.
Source: Agence France Presse
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