admin
Cape Town – The International Criminal Court is not clear what action would be taken if Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta decided not to attend his trial set to begin on 12 December in The Hague, a report says.ICC Outreach Co-ordinator for Kenya and Uganda, Maria Mabinty Kamara said she could not speculate on what measures would be taken, Daily Nation said.
Kamara however stressed that Kenyatta was still required to attend trial after he and his deputy William Ruto committed to co-operating with the ICC.
Kenyatta and Ruto face crimes against humanity charges for Kenya’s 2007-2008 post-election violence in which more than 1 000 people died.
African leaders on Saturday proposed that the trials should be deferred to allow Kenyatta to attend to pressing issues in his country after al-Shabaab militants attacked a mall in Nairobi last month.
But Karama said the ICC will abide by the United Nations Security Council decision on a request for the deferral of the trials. Meanwhile, Botswana, the only African country to have denounced a resolution at the just-ended AU summit to have the trial of Kenyan leader deferred by the International Criminal Court, has made a stunning U-turn saying there were legitimate reasons to suspend the trial due to start on 12 November.
According to Africa Review, Botswana’s minister of foreign affairs, Phandu Skelemani said the time lag would allow President Uhuru Kenyatta to focus on the threat of terrorism by al-Shabaab in the east African country.
Botswana had earlier opposed the resolution saying the AU was politicising “a legal matter”. – News24
Online Reporter