Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto to face International Criminal Court in July 2013.
by Chido Nwangwu
The complicating twists of the Kenyan presidential elections of March 2013 will get more interesting with the background of a war crimes trial this summer, July 2013 of the winners of the hotly contested votes.
The first accused is Uhuru Kenyatta who draws from the name recognition and nationalist legacy of his father, the great founding president of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta. Kenyatta has served as Kenya's finance minister while his running mate and second accused war criminal is William Ruto. Ruto served as higher education minister.
The indictment found that, “These crimes resulted in the death of hundreds and displacement of thousands of civilians.”
Kenyatta who is facing war crimes charges — for fueling very violent ethnic killings of thousands in Kenya's elections 4 years ago — at the International Criminal Court had relief at the news that the ICC moved his appearance-trial to July 2013.
Presiding ICC judge Ekaterina Trendafilova ruled that: "The chamber found that the prosecutor has established substantial grounds to believe that the crimes against humanity of murder, deportation or forcible transfer and persecution were committed." She added that "These crimes resulted in the death of hundreds and displacement of thousands of civilians."
Which leads to two critical questions: What if two alleged war criminals and inciters of ethnic warfare become president and vice president of the east African country of Kenya? And: what if they win, sworn in and are found guilty at the world's war crimes court? What if…?
About Chido Nwangwu
Chido Nwangwu is Founder & Publisher of Houston-based USAfrica multimedia networks since 1992, first African-owned, US-based newspaper published on the internet USAfricaonline.com
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