Bashir issues ultimatum

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir escalated the standoff between his country and Kenya on Friday night when he gave Nairobi a two-week ultimatum to overturn a High Court order for his arrest.In a terse statement, President al-Bashir said his country would slap a broad array of sanctions against Kenya, including banning flights by any airline originating from or destined to Kenya, from overflying its airspace.Most flights coming into Kenya from Europe overfly Sudan. It is unclear what effect such a ban would have.The Sudanese strongman has also threatened to expel more than 1,000 Kenyans living in Sudan and ban its exports to his country should it fail to overturn the ruling within the next two weeks.Also covered in the expulsion order are Kenyan peacekeeping troops based in Darfur, the statement added.“The President of the Republic, Field Marshal Omar al-Bashir, decided to delay the expulsion of the Kenyan ambassador to Khartoum and recalling the Sudanese ambassador from Nairobi for two weeks, following his receiving yesterday evening of Kenyan Foreign Minister as an envoy of President Mwai Kibaki,” the communiqué published in the daily Sudan Tribune read..Click here