The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest
warrant for Bashir for war crimes and genocide in Sudan's western Darfur region
during a counter-insurgency campaign.
The African Union has told its member states not to
cooperate with the warrant. ICC judges reported Kenya, which is a member of the
court, to the UN Security Council because Kenya did not arrest Bashir who
attended the signing of the new Kenyan constitution.
Sudan's foreign ministry said a statement by the EU's
high representative for foreign affairs, Catherine Ashton, raising concern at
Bashir's Kenya visit was "totally unacceptable."
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on the EU to
end its double standard of giving immunity from legal proceedings to certain
nationalities while targeting African countries alone," state news agency
SUNA said.
Relations between Sudan and Western nations, which
support the ICC have been strained since the warrant for Bashir was issued in
March 2009.
Bashir's movements have been restricted to nearby Middle
Eastern and African allies since the warrant was issued and he was forced to
cancel a visit to Turkey last year after EU pressure on Ankara.
His visit to Kenya on Friday was his second to a full
African member of the ICC and a media coup for Bashir. He traveled to Chad last
month.
Rights groups censured Kenya, which has its own case
pending in the ICC over post-elections violence. South Africa and Botswana are
among the few African nations who have defied the AU and said they would
implement the ICC warrant.
