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Indicted Sudanese president visits Kenya, defies arrest warrant on genocide charges

Sudan's president defied an international arrest warrant by visiting Kenya on Friday, causing an outcry from the International Criminal Court which fruitlessly pressured authorities here into arresting the man accused of masterminding the genocide in Darfur.

Rather than arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who was invited along with other regional leaders for the signing of Kenya's new constitution, officials here treated him with the dignity accorded a head of state. Wearing a dark suit and tie, al-Bashir had a front-row position for the historic ceremony.

The ICC has no police force and depends on member states to enforce its orders. Al-Bashir's presence in Kenya underscored that the system to bring the world's worst human rights violators to justice depends on member states and raised doubts about Kenya's willingness to hand over suspects expected to soon be charged by the ICC for postelection violence that left more than 1,000 Kenyans dead in 2007-08....

Read entire article at AP