THE US and the UK yesterday declared they will veto Kenya’s deferral request at the UN Security Council as ODM wrote the council urging it to reject Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka's request.
ICC Chief prosecutor Luis Ocampo will today hold a press conference on the Kenya case. The press conference at 1pm will be streamed live from the Hague. And Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta said yesterday in a meeting attended by 13 MPs that he will take advantage of his trip to the Hague on April 7 to expose the "real" perpetrators of the 2007-08 post-election violence.“They should know that we shall use this opportunity not only to prove our innocence but to adduce tangible evidence on those behind the chaos. We shall go and come out of Hague clean and have the masterminds behind the violence summoned and convicted by ICC,” Uhuru said.
Assistant Minister Mwangi Kiunjuri said at the Uhuru meeting in Thika that evidence will be adduced at the Hague to show that Prime Minister Raila Odinga "thanked a certain community for killing the antelope he has scared".
The ODM secretary general Anyang Nyong'o wrote the UN Security Council President of the month Li Baodong urging the organisation to reject Kenya’s request. He said the government has no mechanisms in place to prosecute the post-election violence.
The letter claims the government has killed some witnesses of the post-election violence and warns that a deferral and prosecution of the case locally will be a nightmare for the surviving witnesses and their families.
Nyong'o says the aborted nomination of lawyers Kioko Kilukumi as Director of Public Prosecutions and Prof Githu Muigai as Attorney General were made to shield the ICC suspects. “They (Kilukumi and Githu) are on record as lawyers for two of the ICC suspects. In addition, an ICC suspect chaired the panel that identified and nominated Justice Visram to the position of Chief Justice,” the letter said. “Local (Kenyan) trials will be exposed to political manipulation by leaders pleading the ethnic card, threats to witnesses, their families and friends. Indeed, many witnesses have been hunted down and killed by state security agents,” the letter stated.
Speaking in Kisumu yesterday, Raila told the Ocampo Six that they can successfully challenge their cases at the Hague if they present the evidence they claim to have and plead their innocence.
He said the ICC is independent court devoid of any external influence, and the Ocampo Six should stop public criticisms of the court. “The six can be cleared and come back to contest the elections if they believe they are innocent just like I was cleared from the 1982 coup case,” said Raila.
The US and Britain yesterday turned down a request by Kalonzo to abstain when the UN Security Council meets in an informal session on Wednesday to discuss Kenya's request to defer the Ocampo Six cases.
US ambassador Michael Ranneberger said Washington will veto the Kenyan position and the Kalonzo request will not be granted. President Kibaki has been invited to attend a UN Security Council meeting in New York on Wednesday where informal talks on the request for deferral by Kenya will be held.
The President is said to be contemplating travelling to the US tomorrow to personally add weight to the Kenyan request.“The United States government has no two positions on the deferral issue, we will not abstain, we will veto,” Ranneberger told The Star.
British High Commissioner Rob Macaire said his government’s position to reject the request for a deferral will not change.“Our position has already been made clear on this matter. There is nothing to add, there is nothing to deduct,” Macaire said.
Uhuru, Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura, Postmaster-General Hussein Ali and former cabinet ministers William Ruto, Henry Kosgey and radio presenter Joshua arap Sang face charges of crimes against humanity at the ICC and the summonses have been issued for April 7.
Kalonzo said on Saturday he had initiated talks with the permanent Security Council members who had expressed unwillingness to support the Kenyan case to at least abstain from voting.“During our discussions with Ms Susan Rice, she expressed fears that Kenya may not get the nine votes it requires. We knew that America does not want to support this request. All we wanted was abstention,” Kalonzo said. Rice leads the American team of diplomats at the UN.
Eldama-Ravine MP Moses Lesonet accused the US of self interest in the Kenyan situation.“Now we know that the US does not mean well for the people of Kenya by acting against the interest of our country,” Lesonet said.
Yesterday government acting chief whip Johnstone Muthama urged Kenyans to be calm saying that summonses against the Ocampo Six were just like an invite to a police station to record a statement.“Nobody should fear. What is happening now will come to pass. These are just like police summonses in Kenyan where people record statements and go. This matter will come to pass.”
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