Al-Bashir visit to Kenya was in order, says AU

• Commission dismisses critics, saying Nairobi acted in line with its resolutions

The African Union has defended Kenya for hosting Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and urged its members to vote against any UN resolution condemning Kenya.

The AU also disclosed the steps it had taken to restrict the work of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on the continent, which has more cases at The Hague than any other.

On Tuesday, the Addis Ababa-based union stated Kenya was within its right to invite President al-Bashir to attend the promulgation of the new Constitution as the head of State of a neighbouring country.

Kenya and Chad, the AU said in a paid-up press statement, abided by the union’s resolution in Sirte, Libya, last year, which stated that African countries would not arrest and surrender the Sudanese president to the ICC even though a warrant of arrest had been issued against him.

“The African Union Commission expresses its deep regret that both the statements and the decisions make no reference whatsoever to the obligations of the two countries to the Africa Union arising from decisions of the AU Assembly adopted by the 13th Ordinary Session,” it said.

The statement was referring to the resolution in which the AU stated that it would not cooperate with The Hague over the warrant of arrest against the Sudanese president because the UN Security Council had declined to act on their request of deferring the decision for one year to allow a peaceful settlement of the Darfur crisis.

The AU was categorical that the UN Security Council had no grounds to pass any judgment against Kenya and Chad since some of its members had not ratified the Rome Statute which established the ICC.

This comes a day after the UN spokesman Sarhan Haq said the Security Council would determine the fate of Kenya for hosting President Al-Bashir in contravention of its resolutions on the Darfur crisis.

“The basic point is all resolutions of the Security Council call for compliance to requests of the International Criminal Court on the Darfur crisis. It is the duty of all member states to respect their obligations to the ICC and we expect their compliance,” he said.