Nairobi, Kenya –The United Nations Security Council has invited Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki to New York to discuss the east African country’s desire to have the post-election violence case now in the hands of the International Criminal Court (ICC) deferred.
Kibaki is expected to fly out to New York for what the Security Council described as an informal discussion of the Kenyan request on Wednesday, according to a news dispatch from the UN headquarters in NewYork, Saturday.
The six key suspects in the post-poll violence which left 1,300 people dead and 350,00 misplaced, whom ICC Chief Prosecutor, Louis Moreno-Ocampo described as the ones “bearing the greatest responsibility for the violence” which occurred in December 2007-January 2008, have since been summoned by the ICC.
They are Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Uhuru Kenyatta, former Agriculture Minister William Ruto, former Industrialisation Minister Henry Kosgey, former Police Commissioner (now Chief Executive Officer, Postal Corporation of Kenya, Maj Gen (Rtd) Hussein Ali, Head of Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Muthaura and journalist and vernacular radio station presenter, Joshua Sang.
The ICC Pre-Trial Chambers ruled that they have cases to answer and should appear before the court at the Hague on 7 April. They will be the first Kenyans to appear before the ICC.
Ruto and Kosgey were dropped from the cabinet after the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission found found they had cases to answer on abuse of office.
Charges against the six, known in Kenya as the ‘Ocampo Six’, range from rape, murder, abuse of human rights, ordering police not to interfere with proscribed militia, Mungiki, as it attacked supporters of a political party here, funding, convening meetings with the Mungiki and forceful eviction of people from certain parts of the country.
The appointing authorities – President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga — asked them to step aside as per the new constitution. The cases are in court.
Kibaki’s invitation to the UN Security Council comes at a time when Kenya engaged in shuttle diplomacy, lobbying the Security Council members to support Kenya’s bid for deferral.
Kenya is pleading with the UN to defer the case by one year and give the country time to establish a Special Tribunal or court to try the post-election suspects.
Vice- President Kalonzo Musyoka has since been to South Africa, Nigeria and Libya in a bid to lobby the African Union to support the bid.
He also led a strong delegation to the UN earlier in the week, which met the UN Secretary- General Ban Ki Moon and the US Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Dr Susan Rice, and and senior deputy secretary of state.
Extending the invitation, the UN Security Council invited Kibaki and an African Union representative to the UN for what the global organisation described as informal talks.
But there are strong fears here that Kenya’s bid was bound to fail as the French, British and German governments, through their ambassadors here, have indicated that they will not support the bid because it would encourage impunity.
Also critical of the move is one half of the cabinet, who feel the last-minute effort has come too late and will deny the victims of the mayhem justice.
Among the people opposed to the bid is Justice Minister, Mutula Kilonzo, who says as signatory to the Rome Statutes, Kenya has no reason for seeking deferral.
‘For the last three years, we have failed to establish a local tribunal to try the suspects, how can we convince the ICC and UN that we will establish the special court,’ he asked.
Kenyans are strongly opposed to the setting up of the Special Tribunal, saying it would be used by the principals to protect the suspects who are their cronies.
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