NEW YORK
Kenya's
political establishment has itself to blame for the spectacle of the
nation's leaders being tried at the International Criminal Court in The
Hague, former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan suggested on
Monday.
"The record is clear and there should be no doubt," Mr Annan wrote in The New York Times.
"It was the Kenyan government’s own failure to provide justice to the
victims and their survivors that paved the way to the ICC, a court of
last resort."
Mr Annan, who helped negotiate an end to
the post-election violence in 2008, urged Kenyans to continue to
demonstrate "courage" by supporting the ICC's intervention.
"These
trials also do not reflect the court’s unfair targeting of Africa, as
has been alleged," he wrote in the US's most influential newspaper.
"Instead, they are the first steps toward a sustainable peace that
Kenyans want, deeply, and can only be assured of if their leaders are
not above the law."
Mr Annan recounted in his
commentary the terms of the agreement he brokered in his role as
chairman of the African Union Panel of Eminent African Personalities.
He
noted that the Waki Commission, formed to investigate responsibility
for the violence, concluded that the killings and destruction were "not
just spontaneous, but, in at least some areas, a result of planning and
organisation, often with the involvement of politicians and
businessmen."
IMPUNITY
"This
was not surprising," Mr Annan added. "Politicians hungry for power have
long exploited Kenya’s ethnic divisions with impunity." He further
cites "decades of the use of violence for political ends by Kenya’s
political elite."
The Waki Commission foresaw that "Kenya’s entrenched political interests might undermine justice," he continues, so it was agreed that in the event of inaction on the national level, the matter would be turned over to the ICC.
"Kenya’s president, Prime Minister and parliament agreed to these terms," Mr Annan pointed out.
"I have continued to follow Kenya’s progress," he wrote, "and there is no question that impunity remains one of the greatest sources of underlying tensions. If it is not checked, there may yet be future generations of victims in Kenya."
The Waki Commission foresaw that "Kenya’s entrenched political interests might undermine justice," he continues, so it was agreed that in the event of inaction on the national level, the matter would be turned over to the ICC.
"Kenya’s president, Prime Minister and parliament agreed to these terms," Mr Annan pointed out.
"I have continued to follow Kenya’s progress," he wrote, "and there is no question that impunity remains one of the greatest sources of underlying tensions. If it is not checked, there may yet be future generations of victims in Kenya."
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