Sudden news: according to the Daily Nation's website, the regional meeting scheduled in Nairobi this weekend will now be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, after the International Criminal Court asked Kenyan authoritiesto arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.
The Daily Nation is one of Kenya's main newspaper. It is quoting "sources" who "said Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) summit organisers transferred the meeting to Ethiopia to shield al-Bashir who has an arrest warrant against him from the International Criminal Court".
As mentioned earlier today, ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has requested this Tuesday the Pre-Trial Chamber to make a ruling that would oblige Kenya to arrest al-Bashir after receiving information that the Sudanese president would attend the IGAD meeting.
“The Chamber (Pre-Trial), renewed its request to the Republic of Kenya to take any necessary measure to ensure the President of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, in the event that he travels to Kenya, be arrested and surrendered to the court in accordance with its obligations as a State Party to the Rome Statute,” a statement by the ICC stated this evening.
Prosecutor Ocampo has issued two warrants of arrest against al-Bashir.
The IGAD meeting is reported to be crucial to Omar al-Bashir while the scheduled January referendum is approaching and has to determine the fate of South Sudan.
Sudanese Vice-President Salva Kiir, who is also the President of Southern Sudan, has warned that the region will inevitably vote to secede. Others fear that the North might sabotage the referendum.
Even though Kenya is a state party to the Rome Statute, founding the ICC, it refused to arrest Omar al-Bashir during his previous visit to Kenya late August to attend the promulgation of Kenya's new Constitution.
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