World court to investigate Kenya violence
NAIROBI, Kenya - Members of the political elite in Kenya, a nation where top leaders have long escaped prosecution for corruption and other crimes, could now face an international investigation into the violence that shook the country after disputed elections last year.
After months of stonewalling by Kenyan politicians, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said yesterday that crimes against humanity had been committed during the postelection period, and that he would seek a formal investigation.
The prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, flew to Kenya yesterday and met with President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, whose intense rivalry set the stage for a wave of neighbor-on-neighbor attacks that killed more than 1,000 people.
“I explained to them that I consider the crimes committed in Kenya were crimes against humanity, therefore the gravity is there,’’ Moreno-Ocampo said at a news conference. “Therefore, I should proceed.’’
For months, many Kenyans have been seeking such an inquiry, with a majority supporting Moreno-Ocampo’s involvement because they had little faith that Kenya’s leaders would prosecute their own, despite pressure from such major allies as the United States.
No top politician, going back to independence in 1963, has been prosecuted for corruption in Kenya. Few, if any, culprits from last year’s bloodbath have been convicted of murder, even though many of the killings happened in front of police officers. Several of the prime suspects from last year’s crisis, accused by human rights groups of masterminding the violence, are high-ranking government ministers.
Gangs rampaged in the slums and across the countryside last year, first protesting a dubious election and then battling it out largely along ethnic lines. Hundreds of thousands of Kenyans were displaced, and the ethnic mistrust remains deep.
