Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta won elections
in March
The African Union
(AU) has accused the International Criminal Court (ICC) of "hunting"
Africans because of their race.
It was opposed to the ICC trying Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta
on charges of crimes against humanity, said Ethiopia's Prime
Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.
The AU would raise its concerns with the UN, he added.
Mr Kenyatta, who was elected in March, is due to be tried in
July.
He denies the charges, which arise from accusations that he
fuelled violence after disputed elections in 2007.
'Chasing Kenyatta'
Analysts say the charges bolstered his campaign in this year's
poll, as many voters saw the trial as interference in Kenya's
domestic affairs.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
The AU is mandated by the assembly
[of the AU] to take care of this issue; to present to the UN
the core of this matter”
Hailemariam Desalegn
Ethiopia's PM
He beat then-Prime Minister Raila Odinga
by 50.07% to 43.28%, giving him a narrow victory in the first round.
Speaking at the end of an AU summit in Ethiopia's capital, Addis
Ababa, Mr Hailemariam said the cases of Mr Kenyatta and his deputy
William Ruto should be referred to the Kenyan courts.
African leaders were concerned that out of those indicted by the
ICC, "99% are Africans", Mr Hailemariam added.
"This shows something is flawed within the system of the ICC and
we object to that," he said.
The ICC had been formed more than a decade ago to end the culture
of impunity, but "now the process has degenerated into some kind of
race hunting", Mr Hailemariam said.
It was "chasing" Mr Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto, despite
the fact that the rival Kalenjin and Kikuyu ethnic groups, who had
fought after the 2007 election, had come together to vote for them
in the March poll, he added.
"The AU is mandated by the assembly [of the AU] to take care of
this issue, to present to the UN the core of this matter," Mr
Hailemariam said.
Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto were on opposite sides in the 2007
election, after which some 1,000 people were killed and 600,000
people fled their homes.
The trial of Mr Ruto, who faces similar charges as Mr Kenyatta,
was due to begin this month but it has been postponed. A new date is
yet to be set.
'Witness concerns'
The ICC insists that it acts impartially, and says it intends to
press ahead with the case against Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto.
Continue reading the main story
ICC in brief
- Set up in 2002
- Based in The Hague, the Netherlands
- Deals with genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes
and the crime of aggression
- Court has been ratified by 121 countries, including 34
in Africa
- Chief Prosecutor is Fatou Bensouda, a Gambian
- Democratic Republic of Congo militia leader Thomas
Lubanga is the only person to be convicted so far
- Investigating cases in Uganda, DR Congo, the Central
African Republic, Sudan, Kenya, Libya and Ivory Coast
Source: ICC factsheet
Kenyan lawyer Wilfred Nderitu, who
represents about 150 victims of the violence, told BBC Focus on
Africa he was concerned about the safety of witnesses if Mr Kenyatta
and Mr Ruto were tried in local courts.
He also doubted whether Kenya's judiciary was capable of dealing
with such complex cases, he said.
"A lot of judges don't have an international criminal justice
background. Therefore, the technical expertise will be lacking," Mr
Nderitu told BBC Focus on Africa.
Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir attended the summit, in defiance
of an ICC warrant for his arrest.
It was unreasonable for the UN Security Council to refer Mr
Bashir to the ICC when three of its five permanent members - the
United States, Russia and China - had either not signed up to or not
ratified the Rome Statute which established the ICC, said AU Peace
and Security Council head Ramtane Lamamra, Reuters news agency
reports.
"How could you refer the cases of others while you don't feel
compelled to abide by the same rule?" he is quoted as saying.
The ICC has charged Mr Bashir with genocide over the conflict in
Darfur.
He denies the charge, and accuses the ICC of being a tool of
Western powers.
Around 300,000 people are estimated to have died in Darfur since
2003, according to the UN.
Earlier this month, Kenya's government wrote to the UN Security
Council, asking for Mr Kenyatta's and Mr Ruto's trials be halted.
The prosecution was "neither impartial nor independent", said the
letter, signed by Kenya's UN Ambassador Macharia Kamau.
Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto were the "glue" that held the country
together during the March poll, the letter added.
The UN Security Council is able to defer ICC cases for up to 12
months.
The deferral can be renewed indefinitely, but the Security
Council cannot order the court to drop a case.
BBC © 2013
The BBC is not
responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-22681894