Sudan-Kenya: Sudan drops bid to ban Kenyan flights, restores ties with Kenya

December 3, 2011   ·   1 Comments

Kenya’s Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula said Friday that the Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir has lifted his orders barring all flights from the Kenyan airspace from entering Sudan after a Kenyan court ruling ordered the arrest of the Sudanese leader should he set foot in Kenya. Wetangula, who arrived back in Nairobi after holding talks with the Sudanese leader, said Khartoum cancelled earlier orders to expel Kenya’s ambassador there, Robert Ngesu, and agreed to slow down on his plan to kick out all Kenyans from Sudan.

Kenyan and Sudanese authorities headed for a major diplomatic clash after the High Court order on Monday.

President Mwai Kibaki wrote a letter to the Sudanese leader, explaining to him that the Court order was not intentional.

Wetangula said several Kenyans working for the UN and the African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) and other international organizations in Darfur were to be expelled.

All Kenyans, including 1,000 Kenyan students, were also to be expelled immediately following the orders of the High Court.

“President Al-Bashir had instructed his government to ensure all airlines coming from Kenya should not fly over Sudanese airspace. He also decided to severe all trade ties,” Wetangula told journalists on arrival from Khartoum Friday.

Kenya’s Chief Justice Willy Mutunga said he stood by the Judgment issued by the Court, adding that the case was about respect for the law and should be seen as such.

Mutunga, the most competitively selected Chief Justice in Kenya, said there should be a strict distinction between anarchy and the rule of law.

The Chief Justice asserted the independence of the Courts, saying that the Judges would ensure the law was adhered to and would not be subject to state control.

Wetangula said the ruling was erroneous and would not be respected, adding that the Kenyan government respected the Vienna Convention, which recognizes the inviolable rights of foreign heads of state on foreign soil.

“That is a judgment incapable of obedience,” Wetangula said.

-PANA