Thousands of Kenyans to travel to The Hague ift.tt/1x7JkGb UHURU KENYATTA Nairobi. — Scores of Kenyan MPs are preparing to travel to The Hague in support of President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is due to appear at the International Criminal Court (ICC) next week.Mr Kenyatta faces charges of organising ethnic massacres that killed 1 200 people after the 2007 elections, but he denies the charges. His trial has been delayed several times because of a lack of evidence. The hearing on 8 October aims to set a date for the trial to commence. Witnesses for the prosecution have withdrawn from the case, and in September, the ICC decided to postpone the start of the trial after prosecutors said the Kenyan government had failed to hand over crucial documents. Mr Kenyatta’s lawyers have repeatedly said the whole case should be dropped because of a lack of evidence. Mr Kenyatta was elected in 2013, despite facing the charges. Analysts said he turned the prosecution to his advantage, portraying it as foreign intervention in Kenya’s domestic affairs. In 2007, Mr Kenyatta was a close ally of President Mwai Kibaki, who was declared the winner in that year’s election despite claims of fraud from his rival Raila Odinga. The disputes soon turned violent, with targeted killings along ethnic lines, pitting members of the Kikuyu ethnic group of Mr Kenyatta and Mr Kibaki against other communities. Mr Kenyatta is accused of organising an ethnic Kikuyu gang, the Mungiki sect, to attack rival groups. His Vice-President, William Ruto, faces similar charges, although he was on Mr Odinga’s side during the violence. — BBC.
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 22:08:05 +0000