Kibaki to meet envoys recalled for briefing on ICC deferral quest

By Ben Agina and Boniface Ongeri
President Kibaki is today meeting 16 Kenyan envoys stationed in United Nations Security Council member-states over the country’s bid to get cases at the International Criminal Court deferred.
The session comes after Kenya formally wrote to the Security Council asking for deferral of The Hague trials facing six Kenyans over crimes committed during 2008 post-election violence. The letter requesting delaying of the cases facing the six was written by Kenya’s Permanent Mission to the UN, based in New York.

President Kibaki

The envoys were summoned to Nairobi through a letter written by acting Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Mr Patrick Wamoto.
"As part of our engagement with our friends and partners regarding Kenya’s engagement with the International Criminal Court, it has been decided that you travel home for consultations. These consultations will entail a meeting with H.E. The President to ensure you receive proper instructions on the matter," said Wamoto in the letter to the diplomats.
"You are, therefore, requested to arrange to be in Nairobi by the morning of 14th February 2011 for a possible meeting with H.E. the President on 15th February 2011. Prior to that, we will arrange a comprehensive briefing on the ICC and other pertinent issues," he added.
The envoys attended a consultative meeting yesterday at Hotel Intercontinental where they were taken through the ICC process.
It is expected they will be briefed on how to lobby the leaders where they work to back Kenya’s request.
Final touches were being put on plans for Kibaki’s meeting with the envoys as Prime Minister Raila Odinga dismissed the diplomatic efforts being waged by the government as futile.
The PM said the attempts to defer the cases were doomed to fail.
"The rule law should be respected, those hopping from one country to another seeking support for the deferral are perpetrators of impunity," he said in reference to Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka’s shuttle diplomacy.
Kenya’s efforts to influence UN Security Council come after it successfully lobbied African countries to rally behind its position under the umbrella of the African Union.
It is, however, clear that the US could prove a difficult case for Kenya. A diplomat who is privy to the efforts to convince UN Security Council members revealed that the US State Department would not support Kenya’s bid. "The State Department has been very categorical they will not support Kenya’s bid… US will even ensure Kenya’s request is not tabled before the Security Council when that time comes," a diplomat told The Standard.
The US is among the permanent members of the council together with China, France, Russia and the United Kingdom. China, France and Russia have already given indications they might support Kenya’s bid for deferral.
The non-permanent members are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Portugal, Brazil, India, South Africa, Colombia, Lebanon, Gabon and Nigeria. Decisions of the Security Council are made by an affirmative vote of nine members, including the votes of the five permanent members. If a permanent member casts a negative vote, the draft resolution being voted on is not passed.
Credible systems
And yesterday, speaking on the sidelines of the envoys’ meeting, Kenya’s Ambassador to the US Mr Elkanah Odembo said whatever the Government does, it must also remember that the problem facing Kenya must be dealt with locally, not at The Hague or New York. "We must have a credible tribunal that will see us beyond the Ocampo Six. That will be the best case to argue before the ICC and the Security Council… it’s really futile for us to go around lobbying. Let us have credible systems that will end the culture of impunity," said Odembo.
The PM who was speaking during the 27th commemoration of Wagalla Massacre in Wajir town asked: "Why should you defer a case for a local tribunal yet even if formed you won’t take action?" He added: "With 2012 coming, those perpetrators would be at it again so they should face the law."
Imenti Central MP Gitobu Imanyara who accompanied Raila also said he might abandon a Bill he had introduced in Parliament seeking formation of a local tribunal. He argued those seeking the deferral of ICC case were not representative of Kenya.
"Those behind the post-election violence should now go to The Hague and let us not be vague," he said.