ICC ruling on Ruto spells doom — Raila

Cord leader Raila Odinga on Wednesday hit out at the ICC, saying its failure to try top Kenyan leaders for crimes against humanity over the 2007 post-election violence spells “doom” for global efforts to fight impunity.

Speaking to AFP in France, Mr Odinga said the International Criminal Court had allowed itself to be blackmailed by Kenya.

However, he said African countries must not quit the International Criminal Court as the continent is “the biggest violator currently of human rights”.

ICC judges dropped cases against President Uhuru Kenyatta at the end of 2014 and against Deputy President William Ruto last week. Charges against four other suspects were also dropped.

More than 1,100 people died and some 600,000 others were left homeless after the 2007 election violence.

“This decision spells doom for the international justice system and fight against impunity,” said Mr Odinga an interview during his visit to Paris. “No African head of State needs to fear being tried by the court because you can destroy the evidence, you can kill witnesses.”

He said the ICC allowed itself to be blackmailed by Kenya through the AU, which had said that African countries would pull out if the court continued trying African heads of state.

Kenya has led a high-profile campaign against the court among African nations, accusing it of bias against the continent.

Last week, Mr Odinga congratulated Mr Ruto after the court declared that the Deputy President and former radio presenter Joshua arap Sang had no case to answer. Mr Odinga at the time said ODM, to which Mr Ruto belonged during the chaos, did not organise any violence over the disputed 2007 presidential election results.

Both Mr Odinga’s Cord and the governing Jubilee coalitions have previously traded accusations over who fixed the other in the ICC cases.

Of the nine investigations the court has opened so far, eight are on African countries; Kenya, Cote d’Ivoire, Libya, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Uganda, Mali and Georgia.

The 2007 post-election violence broke out after Mr Odinga, then and still in the opposition, refused to accept the verdict of the electoral commission, which declared that President Mwai Kibaki had won.

Mr Odinga said that since the ICC dropped charges against Kenyatta and his co-accused, “it was good that Ruto was set free” as a matter of fairness between the opposing camps.

Odinga said African countries’ abysmal rights record was all the more reason for them to remain in the ICC.

“There is no alternative mechanism in Africa to deal with these cases and second, Africa needs ICC more than any part of the world,” he said.

Mr Odinga also criticised African leaders for forcing constitutional amendments to extend their decades-old rule. These include presidents Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Obiang Nguema who have both been in power for 36 years while Jose Eduardo dos Santos has steered Angola since 1979.

“We are seeing the emergence of strongman presidencies and almost presidents for life where term limits are being changed for presidents to remain for life,” said Mr Odinga.

Asked about those who say he is too old to make a third bid for the presidency, Mr Odinga pointed to his “agemates” running for the Democratic nomination for the US presidency. Mr Bernie Sanders is 74 and Mrs Hillary Clinton is 68. Mr Odinga is 71.

“I don’t know why people think I am old,” he said.