Take Uhuru, Ruto case back to Kenya, says AU

African leaders resolved to lobby at the United Nations Security Council level to have the cases facing President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto at the International Criminal Court (ICC) referred back to the Kenya.

In its final declaration on ICC, the AU Monday said trying the two leaders in a foreign capital risks destabilising the country and reverse the reconciliation gains that have been made since the end of post-election violence in 2008.

The declaration read in part: “(The AU) Supports and endorses the Eastern Africa region’s request for a referral of the ICC investigations and prosecutions in relation to 2007 post-election violence in Kenya in line with the principle of complementarity, to allow for a national mechanism to investigate and prosecute the cases under a reformed Judiciary provided for in the new Constitution”.

And Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said: “We have collectively agreed that the declaration by the AU be presented to the United Nations Security Council.”

Mr Hailemariam, who is also the AU chairman, accused the International Criminal Court of targeting Africans as the continental bloc urged that the crimes against humanity charges against Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto be moved to their home country.

“African leaders have come to a consensus that the (ICC) process that has been conducted in Africa has a flaw,” the Ethiopian PM told reporters in Addis Ababa, the headquarters of the African Union.

“The intention was to avoid any kind of impunity... but now the process has degenerated to some kind of race hunting,” he said.

This is not be the first time that the AU is lobbying the UN Security Council to defer or terminate an ICC case against a sitting African president.

The declaration released after the end of the 21st Assembly of Heads of State and Government in Ethiopia noted that the bloc “deeply regrets” that its request to the UN Security Council to defer the proceedings initiated against Sudanese president Omar Bashir had not been acted on.

Mr Hailemariam declined to say why the AU believes that the UN Security Council will act on the Kenyan cases and not that of the Sudan. Neither the declaration nor the leaders gave insights into what will happen if the UN declines to act on the Kenyan cases.

“The AU may not take any action directly related to this matter even if the Security Council declines to take action, but it will go on record and perhaps influence multilateral deals involving countries that were seen opposed to these requests,” said Mr Dennis Kossi of the West African Institute for Peace and Security.

The ICC issue was the political highlight of the AU 50th anniversary celebrations held for over a week in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Mr Hailemariam said the leaders have taken the decision on Kenyan cases because while ICC was started to end impunity, the process was flawed.

“The process has degenerated into race hunting and this is what we object to. We note that 99 per cent of those indicted by the ICC are Africans. This does not mean that African leaders are encouraging impunity and crimes against humanity but these issues must be addressed,” he said.

The Chairperson of the Africa Union Commission, Ms Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, said the decision was based on the fact that the ICC was established to be the court of last, and not first resort.

“Kenya has a reformed Judiciary and it should be given the first priority to try the cases,” she said.

Kenya is pushing the ICC to drop charges against President Uhuru Kenyatta, his deputy William Ruto and radio presenter Joshua arap Sang.

Early this month, Kenya’s Permanent representative to the United Nations, Mr Macharia Kamau, petitioned the UN Security Council to terminate cases facing the three at The Hague on the grounds that the charges were not fair.
However, Mr Ruto’s lawyer distanced himself from such plans saying his client has been corperating with ICC since his case started and would continue doing so.

The UN rejected Mr Kamau’s plea. Mr Kenyatta’s case is slated to start on July 9 while Mr Ruto’s was to start today but was postponed.

At the same time, the African Union said it would set up an emergency military force to rapidly quell conflicts on the continent amid frustrations that a planned peacekeeping force was still not operational a decade after it was first proposed.

“Almost all countries have agreed that we will have rapid response capability in Africa,” Mr Hailemariam told reporters at the close to the AU summit.