Six prominent figures, including deputy prime minister Uhuru Kenyatta,
face charges
Xan Rice in Nairobi
Thursday December 16 2010
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/15/kenya-election-violence-suspects-named
Six prominent Kenyans, including the son of the country's founding
president Jomo Kenyatta, have been accused by the international
criminal court of crimes against humanity for their roles in post-
election violence three years ago.
Uhuru Kenyatta, the current finance minister and deputy prime minster,
William Ruto, the most powerful politician in the Rift Valley
province, where the worst violence occurred, and Francis Muthaura, the
head of the civil service and a close ally of President Mwai Kibaki,
were the highest-profile suspects named today by Luis Moreno-Ocampo,
the court's chief prosecutor.
All three are alleged to have incited or facilitated ethnic attacks
amid the chaos following the disputed poll in 2007, which saw at least
1,133 people killed and hundreds of thousands forced from their homes.
Also named were the industrialisation minister, Henry Kosgey, the
former head of police, Major General Mohammed Hussein Ali, and a radio
journalist, Joshua Arap Sang.
"These were not just crimes against innocent Kenyans", said Moreno-
Ocampo. "They were crimes against humanity as a whole. By breaking the
cycle of impunity for massive crimes, victims and their families can
have justice. And Kenyans can pave the way to peaceful elections in
2012."
The case could be a defining moment for Kenya, where elite politicians
and their allies have enjoyed near absolute impunity since
independence for crimes ranging from corruption to murder. It will
also drastically alter the country's political landscape: until now
Ruto and Kenyatta have been regarded as presidential aspirants and the
respective leaders of the Kalenjin and Kikiyu communities, which have
supplied all of Kenya's president's to date.
Ruto is accused of inciting Kalenjin gangs to attack other
communities, while Kenyatta is alleged to been "the focal point
between Mungiki" ? a mafia-like gang which carried out revenge
attacks ? "and the PNU party" of Kibaki.
While others were widely expected to be named as suspects Muthaura was
not, and the allegations against him will be deeply damaging to
Kibaki.
Moreno-Ocampo said yesterday he expects the suspects, who all deny any
wrongdoing, to announce their intention to "surrender voluntarily" and
warned them not to intimidate witnesses.
The case has caused panic at the highest level of government in recent
days [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/14/kenya-election-
violence-suspects-to-be-named?CMP=twt_gu" title="]. On Monday,
President Mwai Kibaki, whose controversial poll win sparked the
violence, announced he would set up a special court to try suspects
involved in the post-election violence ? an apparent attempt to
subvert the ICC intervention, since the failure to establish a local
tribunal was the reason the Moreno-Ocampo stepped in.
Parliamentary allies of Ruto and Kenyatta have claimed that Moreno-
Ocampo's case is political, while an MP from Ruto's province was today
due to file a parliamentary motion to have Kenya withdraw from the
international court.
But among ordinary citizens there is widespread support for the ICC,
with a survey published today in one of the local papers today showed
that 85% of Kenyans wanted the suspects taken to The Hague.
"These people always do whatever they like and nothing happens," said
David Maina, a newspaper vendor in Nairobi, expressing a widely held
view. "So let them now go with Ocampo."
While there have been concerns about possible violence and protest in
the suspects' home regions, victims of the ethnic attacks who still
live in those areas were eagerly awaiting the announcement this
morning.
"I have been hoping for a long time this would happen," said Pastor
Stephen Mburu, 46, who narrowly escaped when his church near Eldoret
was burned to the ground by a mob of Kalenjin men, killing up to 35
Kikuyus, mostly women and children [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/
2008/jan/02/kenya1" title="].
"This case can stop these things occurring again in the future."
That is one of the main aims of the ICC prosecuting team, with Moreno-
Ocampo earlier pledging that Kenya would serve as "a world example on
managing violence". Ethnic attacks around elections in 1992 and 1997
went unpunished.
guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2010
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