UN head sidesteps thorny issue of deferral but urges end to impunity

Liz Muthoni | NATION
Sunday Nation’s news editor Mugumo Munene meets with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for an interview on March 31, 2011. Mr Ban said the UN cannot influence the decisions of the ICC.

What you need to know:

  • Ban Ki-moon says his office cannot play any role in helping Kenya prove to the ICC it can try suspects locally

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was undoubtedly a man with weighty matters on his shoulders when his plane touched down at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport last Wednesday evening.

As the world’s topmost diplomat, he gets an ever-increasing number of files on trouble spots in myriad locations around the world as he carries out what one of his predecessors called “an impossible job”.

There is the nuclear crisis in Japan that was sparked by an 8.9 magnitude earthquake. There is the war in Libya. There is the situation in Côte d’Ivoire that critics think should have been resolved ages ago.

There is the two-decades-long conflict in Somalia that appears only to be getting worse, and then there are the thousands of victims of war and sexual abuse in the Democratic Republic of Congo who are still waiting for the world to rescue them from marauding militias and army men.

And men, women and children are living on the edge in Darfur where a solution still seems elusive.

His thoughts

But when he arrived in Nairobi this week, Mr Ban was able to clearly articulate his thoughts on the Kenyan post-election cases before the ICC – his ultimate desire is that the families of post-election violence victims will finally get justice.

He did not weigh in on whether the trials of those suspected of perpetrating the violence should be held at The Hague or locally, saying instead that it is up to Kenya to clean up its house and show the ICC that it can handle the job.

Mr Ban emphasised that only the UN Security Council – not his office – could decide whether to postpone the cases for a year. According to international law, such a postponement is only granted where the UN Security Council is convinced that the trials would be a threat to regional and international peace and security.

“The UN secretary-general does not have any influence, does not have any role in this matter. I have discussed this matter with the VP who came as a special envoy of the President. He engaged himself with the members of the Security Council. I hope that the principle of putting an end to impunity and bringing justice to the families of victims will be addressed appropriately,” he said.

International standards

Mr Ban told the Sunday Nation in an exclusive interview at the Windsor Golf Hotel and Country Club on Thursday morning that if the government wished to have the ICC cede the cases to Kenya, the country must make every effort to establish judicial institutions that meet international standards.

“One possibility is local complementarity principle in accordance with the Rome Statute. The Kenya government, if they are genuinely, very seriously addressing this issue, they should have established institutions that meet the standards of complimentarity of the Rome Statute of the ICC,” he said.

The UN chief said he had advised Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka to “address this issue properly and discuss with the ICC” when the latter visited him in New York on March 9.

The VP was visiting New York and a number of world capitals to try and influence the powerful UN Security Council to postpone Kenya’s cases at the ICC for a year.

“This is a very important issue. I know that this is also very sensitive and special to the government and people of Kenya. What is important, as the SG of the UN, is that there should be no impunity (regarding) the crimes committed in the wake of the 2007 presidential election,” Mr Ban said.

“As for the question of indictment, this is totally in the hands of the ICC. It’s an independent judicial system and not part of the UN system. Therefore it’s up to the ICC to make a decision. I have no role whatsoever,” he added.

President Kibaki dispatched a team of senior government officials in January, February and last month to tell the world that it would be risky to undertake trials of the Ocampo Six at The Hague, and the matter would better be handled in Kenya.

During a meeting with Mr Ban on Thursday, President Kibaki said that the new Constitution had given the country a window of opportunity to reform the country’s institutions, according to a PPS dispatch.

The President said that the reforms being undertaken would especially help in giving the country a strong and independent Judiciary that would deal with the delivery of justice expeditiously.

The President noted that the government was also emphasising the issue of national healing and reconciliation to enable the country move forward in unity and peace.

But sources familiar with the meeting said that the President did not directly address the push for a deferral of the cases as his shuttle diplomacy team has done in the past.

The rounds of diplomacy commissioned by President Kibaki have borne little fruit. Last month, the matter was discussed in a low-key informal session of the council after which diplomats told journalists that Kenya’s case was unlikely to succeed.

Mr Ban has also urged the country to work towards credible elections next year.

“Kenyan people and the government should have a very credible and democratic process of election where they will elect their leader and work together to achieve a fuller democracy. That is what the UN is committed to,” he said.