Africa / African News
Kenyan parliament votes to pull out of ICC
BY STEVE MBOGO, SEPTEMBER 06 2013, 05:57
NAIROBI — Kenya’s parliament voted on Thursday to quit the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC), but the Dutch-based tribunal said it would press ahead anyway with the trials of its president and his deputy.
President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto are accused of orchestrating violence after elections in 2007.
About 1,300 people were killed in ethnic bloodletting that plunged East Africa’s biggest economy into crisis.
The ICC’s first trial of a sitting president is viewed as the biggest test to date for an institution that has faced criticism in Kenya and across Africa, where it is accused of bias because all suspects to date have been Africans.
The Kenyan parliament’s decision could also act as a precursor to other African countries pulling out of the Rome Statute that established the ICC.
At the previous African Union summit in Addis Ababa, leaders resolved to castigate the ICC, saying it was selective in its prosecution and largely created for African leaders. They called for such cases as Mr Ruto and Mr Kenyatta to be tried in their own countries or in Africa.
The ICC has since denied the allegations.
Mr Kenyattaon Thursdayhosted Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan on a state visit.
Support for the process, which once had broad backing in Kenya, has been eroded since the peaceful vote in March that elected Mr Kenyatta, the son of the country’s founding leader.
Parliament, dominated by the alliance that brought him to power, voted in favour of telling the government to withdraw from the ICC. "I am setting the stage to redeem the image of the Republic of Kenya," Aden Duale, the majority leader from Mr Kenyatta’s Jubilee coalition, said on behalf of the motion.
Opposing him, minority leader Francis Nyenze said: "We’ll be seen as a pariah state, we’ll be seen as people who are reactionary and who want to have their way."
The ICC said earlier that even if Kenya voted to withdraw, its departure from the first permanent international criminal court would take at least a year and would have no effect on cases already in train.
Mr Ruto’s trial starts on Tuesday and Mr Kenyatta’s in November, despite Kenyan efforts to have the cases dropped or moved nearer home.
Both men have attended pre-trial hearings and have said they will continue to co-operate.
Chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said on Thursday that both cases would go ahead. He also said there had been repeated threats and bribes aimed at persuading relatives of witnesses in the cases to disclose their whereabouts.
"The judicial process is now in motion at the International Criminal Court.
"Justice must run its course," said Mr Bensouda in a video statement on the court’s website.
"Witnesses have gone to great lengths to risk their lives and the lives of their relatives to support our investigations and prosecutions," he said.
A sizeable number of witnesses have already withdrawn, weakening the prosecution’s case.
Many Kenyan politicians have branded the ICC a "neo-colonialist" institution that only targets Africans, prompting the debate on a possible departure from the Rome Statute of the ICC.
"Any law in this country or internationally like the Rome Statute can be repealed and can be amended," said Asman Kamama, one of the legislators supporting a pull-out. "It is not cast in stone and we want to be the trail blazers in the continent."
The Jubilee Coalition of Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto dominates both Kenya’s National Assembly and Senate.
The Hague-based court was set up in 2002 to try the world’s worst crimes, and countries voluntarily sign up to join.
Any withdrawal requires the submission of a formal request to the United Nations, a process that would take at least a year. A withdrawal could, however, preclude the ICC from investigating and prosecuting any future crimes.
Cases could then only be brought before the court if the government decides to accept ICC jurisdiction or if the United Nations Security Council makes a referral.
http://www.bdlive.co.za/africa/africannews/2013/09/06/kenyan-parliament-votes-to-pull-out-of-icc
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2013/09/201395151027359326.html
Received on Fri Sep 06 2013 - 13:30:25 EDT