Sunday, May 26, 2013

How Kenya won AU support on ICC

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By EMEKA-MAYAKA GEKARA gmayaka@ke.nationmedia.co.ke
Posted  Saturday, May 25  2013 at  23:30
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The AU backing of withdrawal of the Kenyan cases was a culmination of a well-coordinated diplomatic effort by Kenya which saw Deputy President William Ruto tour four countries asking leaders to back the proposal.
It is obvious that the ICC matter has become one of the biggest priorities for the two-month Jubilee government whose leaders have made critical trips to key African capitals to rally diplomatic support against the cases.
Mr Ruto visited Congo Brazzaville, Nigeria, Gabon and Ghana to lobby support for the resolution endorsing the Eastern Africa region’s request for a referral of ICC investigations and prosecutions.
Mr Ruto’s trips reported exclusively by Sunday Nation last week angered many Kenyans following revelations that the government hadhired a luxury jet for him and his entourage.
Kenya had asked African Heads of State to back a national mechanism to “undertake investigations and prosecutions of the cases under a reformed judiciary as provided in the new constitution”.
Before Mr Ruto’s shuttle diplomacy, President Kenyatta had travelled to Tanzania and South Africa and hosted the leaders of Somalia, Ethiopia and Djibouti in Nairobi. It is understood that the ICC issue was deliberated in some of the meetings.
One of the meetings was in Juba on Thursday where President Kenyatta secured the support of South Sudan President Salva Kiir who expressed his opposition to the ICC cases.
After the talks, President Kiir accused the Hague-based court of targeting African leaders.
“Whatever has been written in Rome has never been used against any one of their presidents or heads of State. It seems this thing is meant for African leaders,” President Kiir said.
It was a two-pronged campaign: While the Jubilee leaders were lobbying for the AU resolution, Kenya’s UN ambassador wrote to the Security Council pushing for termination of the cases.
However, Mr Geoffrey Birundu, an expert on governance says Kenya’s efforts might not succeed.
“A similar campaign by the Kibaki regime in 2010 spearheaded by his vice president Kalonzo Musyoka hit a dead end,” he argues. “The accused should stop wasting taxpayers money on an alternative that has failed previously. They should also realise that it is two individuals and not the country that are on trial.”
Mr Birundu also points out that according to the Rome Statute, cases that are before the ICC cannot be withdrawn until they have been concluded. This means the Uhuru-Ruto cases will continue, regardless of the Addis Ababa resolution.
The resolution calls on African countries to pull out of ICC if the cases against President Kenyatta and his deputy are not terminated.
A central player in the anti-ICC diplomatic effort has been Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni who on Friday night chaired an Igad meeting in which he declared that the court must inform African leaders of its plans before Mr Kenyatta attends the trials slated for July. Mr Museveni has never disguised his contempt for the court.
During President Kenyatta’s inauguration two months ago at Kasarani, the Ugandan leader “saluted” Kenyan voters for “rejection of the blackmail by the International Criminal Court.”

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