Six to be tried at the Hague after election violence

Six key architects of Kenya's post-election chaos will be prosecuted at The Hague, International Crimes Court chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told a government team.

However, Mr Moreno-Ocampo is said to have declined to name the individuals during a meeting with a Cabinet committee set up to facilitate ICC investigations.

Sources at the two-hour meeting at Harambee House said the prosecutor laid his investigations plans before the committee chaired by Internal Security minister George Saitoti.

He is said to have stated that other key players in the chaos should be handled at the International Criminal Tribunal in Arusha.

"He told us that he will eventually take six individuals to face charges at The Hague. But he refused to disclose any names to us," said a source close to the talks.

The names, he told the meeting, would be an outcome of the investigations he has launched and not necessarily those mentioned in the Waki Commission and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) reports.

The prosecutor is said to have hinted that he will register two cases involving the six individuals at The Hague either in September or October.

Members of the government team at the talks were ministers Saitoti, James Orengo, Moses Wetang'ula and Attorney-General Amos Wako.

The team - which also includes ministers Mutula Kilonzo and Amason Jeffah Kingi - was formed by President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to deal with all issues relating to the ICC.
Speaking after the meeting, Prof Saitoti said: "We have had a cordial meeting and the government will cooperate with the ICC investigations."

Mr Moreno-Ocampo was meeting the government team for the first time since he arrived on Saturday to start investigations into the post-election violence that followed the disputed December 2007 presidential election results.

At least 1,133 people were killed and another 650,000 displaced from their farms. The prosecutor has said those on the list include leaders from PNU and ODM, business people and civil servants who were closely linked with the politicians.

Mr Moreno-Ocampo arrived at Harambee House at 3pm from the Serena Hotel, where he had attended a meeting with Postmaster-General Hussein Ali and Administration Police Commandant Kinuthia Mbugua. Mr Ali was police commissioner during the chaos.

Meanwhile, 25 civil society groups are to meet Mr Moreno-Ocampo in Nairobi today to give their account of the poll chaos.

"Most of these groups have been working with victims and witnesses of the chaos at grassroots level," said Mr Ken Wafula, executive director of the Eldoret-based Centre for Human Rights and Democracy.

Courtesy: The Nation (Kenya)