Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta Heading to ICC
On October 6th, 2014, Al Jazeera reported that President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya would temporarily give up political powers while he would be at the International Criminal Court. Kenyatta is accused by the ICC of committing crimes against humanity. As Al Jazeera explains, “Kenyatta is accused of inciting massive violence following the country’s 2007 election. That violence – often ethnically motivated – killed more than 1,000 people and uprooted 600,000 others from their homes.”
This is an important development, given the charges against Kenyatta. Many citizens, scholars, and activists in Kenya and throughout the world have called for Kenyatta to be tried at the International Criminal Court. One of the most outspoken critics of Kenyatta has been Dr. Professor Makau Mutua, who is the Dean at the University at Buffalo, SUNY School of Law. Mutua has repeatedly called for Kenyatta to got to the ICC, and has questioned the elections that won Kenyatta power, saying that in a VOA News interview that “These two individuals [Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto], as you know, were elected in 2013 while they were under indictment. I have not made a secret of it, but I thought the election was highly compromised, most probably stolen.” He went on to say that “In any case, I think it was wrong for Kenyans to elect individuals who are indicted for crimes against humanity. And so, I have serious questions about the legitimacy of the regime under Kenyatta and Ruto.” And in a 2013 New York Times opinion piece, Dr. Mutua pointed out that horrific actions that Kenyatta and Ruto carried out, saying that
“The violence that followed the presidential election of December 2007 remains a blot on Kenya’s history. President Mwai Kibaki, a Kikuyu, was declared the victor over Raila Odinga, a Luo, in an election that was widely viewed as illegitimate. The Kikuyu and the Luo have been historical rivals for power. But in the 2007 elections, Mr. Odinga united all the major ethnic groups (including Mr. Ruto’s Kalenjin) against Mr. Kibaki and the Kikuyu. Mr. Ruto is accused of organizing and orchestrating Kalenjin militias to attack, kill and evict the Kikuyu from the Rift Valley, his people’s ancestral base. Mr. Kenyatta is said to have organized the Mungiki, a deadly Kikuyu militia, to counterattack the Kalenjin, which they did viciously. Over 1,100 people were killed, and 650,000 displaced” (Mutua, 2013 (New York Times)).
He has also rebuked arguments by some that the International Criminal Court is racist, pointing out that many African state leaders did agree to the Rome Statute (which in turn established the ICC), and that a number of Africans were the ones who referred a number of cases to the ICC (Mutua, 2013).
This recent development regarding Kenyatta is great news for human rights and justice. This shows that the International Criminal Court has influence in the international system, as it has continued to bring various leaders who have committed crimes to trial. Such courts have illustrated that human rights are becoming more of an issue in international relations, and it also shows that the idea of state sovereignty–when crimes against humanity are committed–is not protected. This is critical, as leaders such as Kenyatta and other criminals have tried to hide from justice, using arguments that suggest outside actors are trying to bring about domestic unrest to these leaders’ political authority.
It will also be critical that his Deputy President William Ruto also make himself present to the ICC for his role in the 2007 violence, given that he also has charges against him (Mutua, 2013; Al Jazeera, 2014).
