The International Criminal Court and the Post-Election Violence in Kenya
December 29, 2010
Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court(ICC) in the Hague, on December 15 requested the court to issue summonses to appear against six prominent Kenyans, including cabinet ministers Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto and Henry Kosgey, and Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Muthaura, former Police Commissioner Mohamed Hussein Ali , and radiobroadcaster Joshua arap Sang. Ocampo alleges that the six named individuals directed the violence that erupted in the immediate aftermath of the declaration of President Mwai Kibaki’s disputed re-election on December 30, 2007. The violence left over 1,100 people dead, 3,500 injured, and up to 600,000 forced to flee their homes. The worst hit areas were around Molo in Nakuru District and Eldoret, Kaptagat and Burnt Forest in Uasin Gishu District, and in Kibera, one of Nairobi’s main slum quarters. These are all areas where Kikuyu and Kalenjin settlers intermingle or, in the case of Kibera, where Kikuyu and Luo live close to one another.