The Hague moving in for Kenya trials

• International court starts hiring staff for trials of election violence suspects

The International Criminal Court has begun preparations for trials on Kenya’s post election violence as efforts towards a local tribunal are frustrated by political wrangles.

The ICC has engaged as consultants two foreign members of the Commission of Inquiry into Post-Election violence chaired by Justice Philip Waki; and also hired from Kenya a dozen Kiswahili translators to help potential witnesses.

Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Mutula Kilonzo also revealed on Thursday that The Hague had recruited a number of the investigators who worked with the Waki Commission.

Secret list

It was the Waki Commission that recommended the ICC step in if Kenya was unable to establish a credible special tribunal to try ringleaders of the violence.

The commission also gave former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, chief mediator in the Kenya conflict, a sealed envelope containing names of key suspects recommended for further investigation and possible trial.

The secret list was to be handed over to the ICC if the Kenya government proved unable or unwilling to set up a local special Tribunal that met international standards for the investigation of serious crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity, mass murder.

Mr Annan eventually handed over the sealed envelope to ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo after a government delegation to Geneva and The Hague failed to make a case for more time.

“ICC has hired investigators used by Waki and Swahili translators in preparation for the prosecutions in Kenya,” Mr Kilonzo said during a media workshop on the international crimes in Nairobi on Thursday.

“As far as I am concerned the Cabinet’s decision precipitated” the move by Mr Ocampo, he told the workshop organised by the Kenyan chapter of the International Commission of Jurists, the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and Peace Pen Communications.

Mr Kilonzo linked the move by Mr Ocampo on failure by the Cabinet last month to endorse two Bills that were meant to establish the special tribunal.

In March, Parliament rejected similar Bills that were tabled by then Justice minister Martha Karua.

Just this week, a similar Bill sponsored by MP Gitobu Imanyara was published. It has won support from some key ministers, including Mr Kilonzo and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, but has not secured official endorsement of the government.

Leaders

The ICC has closely following events in Kenya since the disputed 2007 elections that led to more than 1,300 killed, and 600,000 forced out of their homes.

Topping the list of suspected masterminds behind the carnage are senior ministers in the coalition government, assistant ministers, MPs and other prominent leaders.

It has listed Kenya, alongside Afghanistan, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire and Palestine among states it is monitoring on it’s calendar for 2009 and 2010.

“Key challenges in the coming year will include the requirement to provide live transcripts in both French and English, quality interpretation including in Kiswahili, Lingala and Arabic,” states the ICC website.

On Thursday, Mr Kilonzo said the efforts by Imenti Central MP Imanyara to establish the local tribunal may not meet the deadline that the government delegation agreed with Mr Moreno-Ocampo in early July to stave off the Hague option.

The delegation, which was composed of Ministers Kilonzo, James Orengo and Attorney General Amos Wako agreed that should the government fail to pass laws establishing the local tribunal by end of September, it would hand over the case to The Hague.

The efforts were defeated on July 20 when the cabinet rejected the draft Bills by Mr Kilonzo and instead chose the High Court and the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission to try the suspects.

However, the Justice minister stated categorically that the mandate of the TJRC cannot be expanded to handle post-election violence.

“I hope the Imanyara bill has addressed the issue and that Parliament will pass it. If the Bill fails it will mean neither Parliament, nor executive nor the judiciary will be available for purposes of trying international crime committed during the violence,” he said.

Mr Kilonzo said the ICC only had 18 prosecutors and that it could only handle a few suspects from Kenya.

“That is the reason why some Kenyans think the Hague is the best. The ICC can even take 30 years down the line,” said.

He warned that failure to establish a local tribunal sends the message that “you can kill but nothing will happen to you.” He gave an example of the assassinations of Dr Robert Ouko and Mr J.M Kariuki, as killings that “can just occur, the media let to report for two weeks then we wait for the anniversary.”

He also said the ICC option will be an indictment of Parliament and the Judiciary.

A group in the government feared they could be on the Waki list and did not want local trials which are faster and can attract many witnesses.