NAIROBI, Kenya — Thousands of people flooded a downtown Nairobi park on Monday to welcome back six Kenyan suspects who face charges at the International Criminal Court in The Hague for postelection violence.
The gathering was billed as a prayer rally but took on an atmosphere of celebration. Two of the most prominent suspects — Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and former Education Minister William Ruto — smiled broadly and waved as their truck was swarmed by supporters.
Protesters had earlier thrown rocks at the suspects’ convoy as it traveled into the city from the airport, said Munyori Buku, a spokesman for Kenyatta. Buku blamed supporters of Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
The six appeared at the International Criminal Court in The Hague last week for what amounted to a preliminary hearing. The presiding judge warned the six against making inflammatory speeches that could re-ignite the violence unleashed after the 2007 election.
Ruto and Kenyatta attended meetings also billed as prayer rallies in the weeks before their Hague appearance, but observers feared those rallies could be aimed at riling their supporters with hate speech.
Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan last week said there was “palpable tension in the air in Kenya, with the flames of hate language and ethnic incitement being fanned from various quarters.”
More than 1,000 Kenyans were killed and 600,000 were forced from their homes during the violence in late 2007 and early 2008 that followed what many observers said was a flawed presidential election. The weeks of attacks shattered Kenya’s reputation as an oasis of calm in a region roiled by conflict.
The six face charges of orchestrating that violence. Judges scheduled a status conference for April 18 and said a hearing to weigh whether prosecutors’ evidence is strong enough to merit a trial will begin Sept. 1.
All suspects have denied wrongdoing. If convicted they face maximum sentences of life imprisonment.
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