Bid to defer ICC trials gets AU boost
Courtesy | VPPS
Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka presents a gift to President Muammar Gadaffi when he visited the Libyan leader on Friday at his farm in Tripoli. The VP was on an anti-ICC lobbying mission.
What you need to know:
- Kenya’s resolution gets resounding Yes at summit as it passes crucial stage
Kenya on Friday added pressure on the ICC when it successfully lobbied the African Union’s Peace and Security Council to endorse deferral of its case at the International Criminal Court.
The resolution by the powerful committee will now be tabled at the heads of state and government summit that kicks off in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Sunday.
President Kibaki is expected to leave the country on Saturday to attend the summit, whose theme is ‘Towards Greater Unity and Integration through Shared Values’.
The resolution at the ongoing summit was proposed by Tanzania and seconded by Botswana, Sudan and others in a resounding Yes vote. The African Union summit has a two-tier approval process of resolution at the Peace and Security Council; the ministerial and heads of state level.
Kenya’s deferral resolution has now passed the crucial ministerial approval stage.
Article 16 of the Rome Statute defines how the deferral of either investigations or prosecutions can be achieved. Cases before the ICC can only be deferred, or suspended, on a resolution of the UN Security Council.
No investigation or prosecution can be commenced or proceeded with for 12 months after the Security Council has requested the Court to defer a matter.
The quest for a deferral is premised on the basis that Kenya is reforming the Judiciary and police force and will therefore be capable of establishing a credible special tribunal to try on home soil the six individuals under investigation.
The development came as President Kibaki was holding talks with the President of the Assembly of Parties to the Rome Statute, Mr Christian Wenaweser.
According to a Presidential Press Service dispatch, President Kibaki expressed Kenya’s will to implement a local mechanism to try post-election violence suspects.
He clarified that Kenya was still a member of State Parties to the Rome Statute and explained the country would continue implementing measures to establish a judicial mechanism to try post-poll chaos suspects.
“The government has prepared Bills including the Judicial Service Bill 2011, the Vetting of Judges and Magistrates Bill 2011, and for Bills to be tabled in Parliament to reform the Judiciary, the Police and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions,” he said.
