UN council, Kenya to meet over ICC deferral

The United Nations Security Council has agreed to an informal meeting with Kenya on Wednesday to discuss the request for deferral of the post election violence cases.

The Council's president Li Baodong was quoted by the Reuters news agency saying that the Kenyan side and an African Union (AU) representative will hold consultations with the body on Wednesday.

"The council ... decided to have an interactive dialogue next Wednesday afternoon," Mr Li told reporters.

"The Kenyan side and also a representative of the AU (African Union) will participate in the consultations," Reuters reported.

Mr Li said Kenya had requested for the meeting to put forward its case for a one year deferral of the cases facing six suspected masterminds of the violence named by the International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo in December.

The six are: Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, head of the Public Service Francis Muthaura, Eldoret North MP William Ruto, his Tinderet counterpart Henry Kosgey, Postmaster General Hussein Ali and radio journalist Joshua Sang.

All six have been summoned to appear before the ICC on April 7 for an initial appearance.    

Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka is leading the shuttle diplomacy to lobby the Council's 15- member states to agree to a deferral.

However, the campaign suffered a setback when the US, a veto-wielding member, indicated that it would not back such a request.

“We do not believe that deferral of the Kenya proceedings would help maintain or restore international peace and security,” a State Department official said Wednesday.

“As we have consistently stated,” the official added, “it is critical that perpetrators of Kenya’s post-election violence be held accountable to end the country’s culture of impunity.”

The Security Council cannot stop the ICC proceedings though it has the power to suspend them for up to 12 months.

Kenya has written letters to both the Security council and the Assembly of State Parties to the Rome Statute arguing that the country may plunge into chaos if the ICC process is allowed to go on hand in hand with the campaigns for the next general election because Mr Ruto and Mr Kenyatta are presidential frontrunners.

The country wants the two bodies to influence the postponement of the cases for at least twelve months to avert such chaos.