Kenya vows push for creation of African Court of Justice

Kenya has vowed to lobby more African countries to sign a protocol on the establishment of an African Court of Justice and Human Rights to deal with the cases against humanity.

Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs Amina Mohamed told journalists in Nairobi that 11 African countries have signed the Malabo Protocol out of the required 14.

"Kenya is not the only country that has pledged support. For this court to operate, resources are needed and hence the pledges from different countries," Mohamed said late Monday after returning from the Africa Union (AU) summit held in Ethiopia.

"What we are trying to do is to expand its mandate so that it can handle different kinds of crime, including crimes against humanity," she said.

During the just ended AU summit in Addis Ababa, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who had signed the protocol, said the establishment of the proposed African Court of Justice and Human Rights was now unstoppable and announced Kenya's commitment of 1 million U.S. dollars for the new judicial institution.

Kenyatta said Africa is ready to establish a broader African transitional justice police framework and an African Court of Justice to handle all criminal cases in Africa currently referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, Netherlands. Endi