Rob Macaire

UK, Kenya and the International Community

A crucial time for Kenya.   The EU, in the company of many other countries issued a statement on Friday expressing concern that nothing has been done to attack impunity for the post-election violence: neither a special tribunal nor referral to the International Criminal Court.  The ICC prosecutor issued an important statement a day earlier, supporting what he called a 'three pronged' approach to those crimes:  ICC, a special tribunal, and the TJRC to tackle historical issues and reconciliation at community level.   Now Kofi Annan , on behalf of the African Union,  has arrived in Kenya for talks with the two Principals and others.  All this coming hard on the heels of some tough, and well-chosen, words from the Obama Administration about the urgency of reforms and the responsibility of politicians and officials to act swiftly on them.   There's a strong sense of unanimity among the international community, and it echoes what is being heard far more loudly from Kenyan voices.   My impression from all this is that  the Kenyan people aren't willing to accept 'business as usual', particularly when that makes the chances of a repeat of last year's violence more likely.   While reconciliation is vital, I can't think of any country in the world where reconciliation has been achieved by deciding to allow people to get away scot-free with the use of violence for political ends on a massive scale.  Meanwhile Agenda 4 remains largely in the realms of commissions and recommendations, with Kenyans waiting  anxiously for the key actions to be taken.
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Posted at 07:08 06 October 2009 by Rob Macaire  |  Comments[2]