From: Mars Group Kenya
On November 5th 2009, Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga issued a statement which officially committed themselves and the Government of Kenya to cooperate with the International Criminal Court domestically and internationally. They categorically stated: “the Government remains committed to cooperate with ICC within the framework of the Rome Statute and the International Crimes Act.”
The extension by the Government of Kenya to invite Omar Al Bashir, an International Criminal Court indictee, renders the commitments by the two principals doubtful. To his credit the Prime Minister Raila Odinga has publicly disavowed knowledge of the Omar Al Bashir invitation, but senior members of his Government, and some from his own political party, are shamelessly justifying Omar Al Bashir’s presence at the Promulgation Ceremony for the Constitution of Kenya last Friday. President Kibaki has not only remained silent, he has left the country for a COMESA meeting in Swaziland.
Some African Heads of State are clearly sympathetic to Al Bashir, and are determined to try and shield him from justice at The Hague. But truth be told if their citizens knew what kind of person Omar Al Bashir is, and what he has been charged with, their citizens would not back them; just as Kenyan citizens have refused to support Kibaki’s invitation to Omar Al Bashir.
WHY OMAR AL BASHIR IS AN INTERNATIONAL FUGITIVE FROM JUSTICE
Put simply, Omar Al Bashir has been charged with a deliberate crime against his own citizens from the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa groups.
The warrants of arrest for Al Bashir lists Ten Criminal Charges against him on the basis of his individual criminal responsibility under article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute as an indirect (co) perpetrator including:
Five counts of crimes against humanity: murder – article 7(1)(a); extermination – article 7(1)(b); forcible transfer – article 7(1)(d); torture – article 7(1)(f); and rape – article 7(1)(g);
Two counts of war crimes: intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking part in hostilities -article 8(2)(e)(i); and pillaging – article 8(2)(e)(v) Three counts of genocide: genocide by killing (article 6-a), genocide by causing serious bodily or mental harm (article 6-b) and genocide by deliberately inflicting on each target group conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction (article 6-c).
WHAT ARE OMAR AL BASHIR’S SPECIFIC CRIMES? To those few Kenyans who believe that Omar Al Bashir should have been allowed to come to Kenya we urge you to read more about Omar Al Bashir’s crimes: specifically genocide of 3 Sudanese communities here: http://blog.marsgroupkenya.org/?p=2382
www.marsgroupkenya.org
Watching Out For You.