Annan team now wants special tribunal formed

By LUCIANNE LIMO

The Panel of Eminent Persons has renewed calls for a local special tribunal to try perpetrators of post-election violence.

The team chaired by former UN Chief Kofi Annan has been monitoring Kenya’s progress since the formation of the Grand Coalition Government.

In a statement released yesterday, the panel said a local mechanism would provide justice for post-election violence victims.

This is because the International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has indicated only four to six individuals are likely to face trial at The Hague.

"Although attempts to establish a Special Tribunal for Kenya failed, there is a need to begin, once more, to seriously consider how to establish a mechanism to try the low and middle level perpetrators," the statement reads in part.

The team asked the Government to consider establishing the special tribunal warning people’s confidence in the ICC process may wane if there are delays in the investigations and prosecutions.

"Already, there is a drop in the number of people confident that ICC will prosecute senior people who perpetrated violence due to delayed prosecutions and disappointment that the ICC will net only a small number of perpetrators," the statement adds.

A survey commissioned by the panel said ICC alone would not end impunity in Kenya.

Perpetrated violence

"The ICC will investigate and prosecute a few people – not the many who perpetrated violence. Hence the Government should once again build support for a special tribunal," the survey says.

The report, "The Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation monitoring project", was prepared by South Consulting from a survey done between July and October.

It noted the Grand Coalition continues to weaken and political anxiety over who is on the list has heightened after Ocampo got the greenlight to pursue perpetrators of the 2007/2008 chaos. Several politicians have defended themselves over allegations of linking them to the violence with Eldoret North MP William Ruto flying to The Hague to clear his name.

The Annan team also noted Kenyans hope that ICC will end impunity and cycles of political violence.

In the survey, majority of Kenyans said they would support the ICC process even if senior members of their community were put on trial.