THE KENYAN government has failed to halt an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into post-election violence in 2007 and 2008 – in which more than 1,200 people were killed and tens of thousands displaced.
Judges in The Hague decided that the ICC probe should continue on the grounds that the Kenyan government had failed to provide any convincing evidence that any substantive investigation or proceedings were going on before national judges in its own country.
The violence erupted after the incumbent, Mwai Kibaki, was declared winner of Kenya’s presidential election on December 27th, 2007, despite claims by his opponent, Raila Odinga, of widespread electoral fraud. Observers alleged electoral manipulation by both sides.
Following the violence, international mediators led by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan were brought in to resolve the crisis and succeeded in brokering a power-sharing government. However, they failed to have a domestic tribunal set up to investigate the killings.
Chief prosecutor at the criminal court Luis Moreno Ocampo subsequently accused Kenyan government officials of “creating a climate of fear” by intimidating ICC witnesses and he also accused President Kibaki and prime minister Odinga of shielding suspects involved in masterminding the violence.
Five high-ranking political figures and one businessman are charged in connection with the killings: deputy prime minister Uhuru Kenyatta; finance minister William Ruto; industrialisation minister Henry Kiprono Kosgey; former police commissioner Mohammed Hussain Ali; cabinet secretary Francis Kirimi Muthaura; and businessman Joshua Arap Sang.
At the end of March, a submission by the Kenyan government challenged the admissibility of the criminal court inquiry, claiming it was now capable of carrying out its own criminal investigations.
That application has now been rejected by the three judges of the ICC. Consequently, said presiding Judge Ekaterina Trendafilova, there remained “a situation of inactivity” and they had no option but to conclude that the ICC investigation was and remained admissible.
The government has five days in which to appeal the ruling.