1 December 2011
editorial
A furious diplomatic row has broken out after the Kenya High Court issued an arrest warrant against the Sudanese President Hassan al-Bashir.
President Kibaki has dispatched his Foreign Affairs minister to cool tempers in Khartoum after the Sudan Government reacted angrily to the court ruling, ordered out Kenya’s ambassador, and recalled its own envoy from Nairobi.
Kenya has hinted that it will ignore the court order, and indicated that the Sudanese president remains free to visit without fear of arrest for upcoming conference on unresolved issues from the split between the north and the new South Sudan Republic.
There may be a lot that is strange about the ruling by Mr Justice Nicholas Ombija on an application by civil society groups seeking enforcement of an International Criminal Court indictment on President Bashir.
Sudan may be rightfully furious; and Kenya is clearly discomfited, having been caught off-guard.
But however odd and disagreeable the ruling, the proper place to challenge it is through the judicial appeals process, not through intemperate over-reactions outside the courtroom.
AllAfrica – All the Time