International court asks Kenya to act on arrest warrants against Sudan's president

A pre-trial chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has called on Kenya to arrest Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on genocide charges when he visits the country later this week.

The ICC said on Tuesday that it had asked Kenya to report, no later than October 29, any issue which would prevent Bashir's arrest should he visit the country on October 30 for an Inter-Governmental Authority for Development summit.

The Hague-based court has issued two warrants for Bashir, one dating from March 2009 on five counts of crimes against humanity and two counts of war crimes, and one issued in July 2010, on three counts of genocide. 

The United Nations estimates that 3,00,000 people have died in the humanitarian crisis resulting from a counter-insurgency campaign led by Bashir in Sudan's Darfur region.

Bashir denies the charges, saying they are part of a Western conspiracy.

Relations between Sudan and Western nations which support the ICC have been strained since the first warrant for Bashir was issued.

The African Union has told its members not to cooperate with the ICC in the Bashir case.

Bashir's movements have been restricted to nearby West Asian and African allies and he was forced to cancel a visit to Turkey last year after the European Union put pressure on Ankara.

ICC judges reported Kenya, which is a member of the court, to the UN Security Council because Kenya did not arrest Bashir in August when he attended the signing of a new Kenyan constitution.

Bashir's visit to Kenya was his second to a full African member of the ICC and a media coup for Bashir. He travelled to Chad in July.

The ICC has no police force and relies on member states to enforce its arrest warrants.