From left: Eldoret North MP William Ruto, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyaatta waving to a jubilant crowd on arrival at Uhuru Park on April 11, 2011. Photo/WILLIAM OERI
By NATION Team (newsdesk@ke.nationmedia.com)
Posted Monday, April 11 2011 at 13:12
Posted Monday, April 11 2011 at 13:12
Two of the six suspects named by the International Criminal Court returned to Nairobi on Monday and went straight to a rally-cum-prayer meeting at the historic Uhuru Park.
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At the same time, a group of rowdy youth targeted a convoy led by Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and suspended Higher Education William Ruto at Makongeni along Nairobi's Jogoo road as they made their way to the rally.
The Uhuru Park venue has largely been peaceful despite earlier fears of tension after the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party claimed it would be holding parallel prayers for the internally displaced at the same venue.
Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto have arrived at Uhuru Park and are expected to address their supporters later in the afternoon.
Youths who pelted their convoy with stones encountered stiff resistance from pro-Uhuru supporters who fought back and managed to repulse them.
The convoy was making its way from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to Uhuru Park where a prayer meeting was organised to welcome the suspects back after their appearance at the International Criminal Court on Thursday and Friday last week.
Three suspects - Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto and Julius arap Sang - returned on Monday. They had been, together with three others, summoned to The Hague court after ICC judges found that there were grounds linking them to the planning of the chaos that left 1,300 killed and over 600,000 displaced.
The other three - Francis Muthaura, Henry Kosgey and Hussein Ali - returned quietly on Sunday.
However, Mr Sang did not join the convoy to the rally.
Loot
As the convoy got to City Stadium, a group of rowdy youth looted some kiosks along Jogoo road. The youths first went to a kiosk where they forcibly took away items before descending on unsuspecting motorists.
Makadara OCPD Thomas Atuti said on telephone that there was a small fracas between those who were on the convoy and those who were waiting at the gate of Makongeni Police Station.
“That is when a few of them looted the kiosk before they joined the convoy and proceeded to the city centre,” said Atuti.
He, however, said that no arrests had been made but they were investigating.
The convoy got the Uhuru Park six hours later at 1.30pm, where they were met by thousands of supporters including Cabinet ministers Sally Kosgei (Agriculture), Kiraitu Murungi (Energy) and Samuel Poghisio (Information and Communications) among other politicians seen to be friendly to President Kibaki's Party of National Unity (PNU).
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