Kenya urged to arrest Sudan leader Bashir

An African civil society group has called for the arrest of Sudan President Omar al-Bashir if he attends a regional meeting in Kenya.

In a letter to President Kibaki, the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project said President Bashir's visit will be an "insult" to the people of Sudan.

"A return visit by al-Bashir would make a mockery of Kenya’s declared commitments to the International Criminal Court, and would be an insult to victims of atrocities in Darfur and globally,” said the project's Hassan Shire Sheikh Friday.

Indications are that President Bashir is due to attend the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad) in late October or November to discuss the January 2011 referendum on Southern Sudan's secession.

The January referendum on independence for the south is the centrepiece of a 2005 peace deal, which brought an end to Africa’s longest-running civil war in which an estimated two million people died.

The Sudan leader is sought by the ICC for war crimes and genocide committed in Darfur.

"Kenya understandably has concerns about regional stability ahead of Sudan’s referendum, but states that are dedicated to accountability should manage these concerns in ways that do not undermine justice for the most serious crimes,” said Oby Nwankwo, of Nigeria's Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre.

President Bashir's last Kenya visit to witness the promulgation of the new Constitution in August drew international condemnation.

World leaders led by US President Barack Obama and former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan were outraged by the government's decision to grant him safe passage.

At the time, Kenyan authorities cited concerns over regional stability for not carrying out his arrest.

The government also cited the African Union decision at its 2010 July summit meeting, calling for governments not to cooperate in the arrest of al-Bashir.

“Failure to cooperate with the ICC runs counter to Kenya's obligations as an ICC state party as well as Kenya’s constitution and other domestic law,” said Stella Ndirangu of the Kenyan chapter of the International Commission of Jurists.

The country is also party to another ongoing ICC investigation, focused on crimes committed following the disputed 2007 general elections.

1,133 people were killed and a further 650,000 left homeless in the wake of violence that followed the contested poll.