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Spotlight: Kenyan president vows never to hand over citizen to ICC

Xinhua, April 17, 2016 Adjust font size:

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has vowed never to allow any Kenyan to be tried at the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the 2007-08 post election clashes in which more than 1,200 people were killed and 600,000 others displaced.

Kenyatta, who made the announcement late Saturday in a rally in Nakuru vowed to pursue local mechanisms to solve the country's problems.

Speaking in Kiswahili, Kenyatta declared the five-year relationship with the ICC over.

"That chapter we have closed. We have our own courts, we will sort out our own issues. I don't want to see any Kenyan going out there again,"said the president.

Kenya is legally bound to cooperate with the ICC as a signatory of the Rome Statute but MPs have been threatening to pull the country out from the ICC.

The rally was also attended by Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto, journalist Joshua Sang, former minister Henry Kosgey, former Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura, and former police chief Mohammed Hussein Ali. The cases against the six have been dropped by the ICC.

The ICC prosecutor Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has issued warrants against three Kenyans, former journalist Walter Barasa, lawyer Paul Gicheru and Phillip Bett for alleged witness interference in the cases against Ruto and Sang before their cases were terminated early this month.

Kenyatta said Kenya has opened a new chapter of reconciliation and gave a pledge to undertake all efforts to ensure that Kenya's elections will always be free of violence.

"We would not wish any Kenyan to go through the experience we have had at the ICC," said Kenyatta whose case at the Hague-based world court was dropped in March 2015 due to lack of sufficient evidence.

The president said many victims await justice and perpetrators are yet to be brought to book and vowed to pursue healing and reconciliation of communities.

"We have our courts here, I don't want to see any Kenyan take the route we have traveled. If we have issues, we have the solution here at home. If they come for us we will tell them we are not going back," Kenyatta told thousands of his supporters, politicians and religious leaders.

Speaking at the rally, the deputy president William Ruto said the country went through a shameful chapter in the post-election violence during which many lives were lost and a lot of property was destroyed.

He urged Kenyans to forgive each other and build bridges of friendship to forge a stronger nation.

Ruto, who was a member of parliament at the time of post-election violence had been attending his trial for crimes committed during the violence until April 5 when his case was dropped.

Ruto and Kenyatta who were on opposite sides of the political divide in 2007-2008 were accused of organizing attacks against one another's supporters. They were elected in March 2013 on a joint ticket.

The 2007-08 post-election violence in Kenya was blamed on the fierce competition for a share of the national wealth between the various tribal groups. Most of it had to do with the distribution of land and access to State power. Endit