Nairobi, Kenya - Kenya has invited Sudanese President Omar El-Bashir to attend a summit of the East African bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), to discuss pending issues between the two Sudanese states, local media reported. Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula said a regional summit had been planned in Nairobi but could be held “elsewhere”, to discuss the pending issues, including the status of Abyei, the Southern Kordofan and the Blue Nile states.

Kenya, which chairs the IGAD Sub-Committee on Sudan, has been engaged in high-level diplomatic engagements after a Kenyan High Court judge ruled that the authorities should arrest President El-Bashir should he step on Kenyan soil and hand him over to The Hague.

El-Bashir is wanted to face charges of crimes against humanity and genocide for crimes allegedly committed in Darfur's armed conflict.

“Sudan is led by President El-Bashir and we expect him to participate,” Wetangula told the Daily Nation newspaper in Bujumbura, where he is attending a regional summit.

Kenyan officials say the warrant for the arrest of El-Bashir took them by surprise.

“The Government of Kenya fully understands the anxiety created by the High Court ruling within the Republic of Sudan as it is a direct affront on the cardinal principle of sovereign immunity, as well as the collective African Union position on this matter,” the Foreign Minister said earlier Wednesday.

Kenyan government expressed its “deep concern” at the very unhelpful High Court ruling, Wetangula said, adding “we will do everything within our powers to ensure that the ruling does not undermine in any way whatsoever the very cordial and fraternal relations that exist between Kenya and Sudan.”

IGAD Executive Secretary Maalim Mahboub also challenged the ruling, insisting that it was counter to Kenya’s best intentions of seeking peace in the entire Sudan.

Wetangula said the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which is the principle judicial organ of the United Nations, has affirmed the immunity of foreign heads of state to be absolute.

He said the rules further confirmed that serving heads of state, heads of government and foreign ministers may not be prosecuted in foreign national courts or arrested abroad even when charged with international crimes.

“It is also instructive that recent decisions of domestic courts vis-à-vis indictments of heads of state have not varied this position,” he said.

Sudan recalled its ambassador to Kenya and expelled the Kenyan ambassador to Khartoum on Monday after the High Court ruling.

Pana 01/12/2011