IJCentral: International Justice Central

NAIROBI, Kenya — A public feud between Kenya’s prime minister and president, whose agreement two years ago to share power ended the country’s worst violence since independence, has many of their compatriots worried that the bloodshed could resume if efforts by the U.S. and African powers fail to cool tensions.

Relations between the two leaders — never strong to begin with — broke down this week over the attempted dismissals of two Cabinet ministers accused of corruption. In the streets of Kenya’s capital, dozens of protesters marched in front of Parliament on Wednesday, demanding an end to corruption and expressing worry about the friction between President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

“It’s definitely going to lead to violence because they are not working toward consensus,” Polycarp Gordon Odhiambo, 37, the chief executive of a development group that works in a Nairobi slum, said as he walked among other protesters who held up signs saying “Kibaki Stop Protecting Thieves” and “The Issue is Corruption, Not Politics.”

“From now on, anything can happen,” added Laban Kanyanya Nyongesa, 29, a taxi driver who watched the rally from the edge of a park.

U.S. officials are working behind the scenes to get the two leaders to talk face-to-face and bring down tensions that could rupture the coalition.

The two leaders spoke over the phone late Wednesday during an “extremely cordial” conversation, Salim Lone, an adviser to Odinga said Thursday. The two plan to meet on Sunday, he said.
Tensions escalated last Saturday when Kibaki suspended eight government workers — including two Odinga aides — suspected of corruption. The next day, Odinga suspended two Cabinet ministers after audits of their ministries of agriculture and education uncovered high-level corruption. But Kibaki annulled those suspensions and has since said they were never valid because Odinga had not consulted with him as required under Kenya’s power-sharing deal.

Moses Kuria, spokesman of Kibaki’s Party of National Unity, said that if Odinga or ministers loyal to him withdraw from the government, the president can simply reconstitute the Cabinet.

Legal scholars say such a move by Kibaki would be lawful. But it would risk sending angry Odinga supporters into the streets.

Fears of a return to violence are well founded, especially if the political stalemate goes on for many days, said Ben Sihanya, the dean of the University of Nairobi Law School. But, he said,
Kenyans are also aware that they are under more scrutiny today — by the International Criminal Court and others — after the December 2007-February 2008 bloodshed.

“You cannot just start killing people,” Sihanya said. “You cannot start burning things. People are being more careful than they were before.”

After the December 2007 vote, Kibaki was quickly sworn in as president despite doubts from observers about the vote’s fairness. Odinga supporters took to the streets and clashed with police. The violence took on an ethnic dimension as people were attacked with machetes and even bows and arrows based on their tribal identities. Whole neighborhoods were set ablaze.
Former U.N. chief Kofi Annan, a heavyweight negotiator acceptable to both sides, patched together the shaky coalition government to end the violence. Odinga has asked Annan to step in and mediate the current standoff. In a statement Thursday, Annan called on the two leaders to recommit to a collaborative spirit, to meet with each other and to fight corruption.
Top U.S. officials here are monitoring the dispute closely, are working to defuse the tension and also want the two leaders to meet.

Gus Selassie, a political analyst on Africa at IHS Global Insight, a London-based think tank, said that while Odinga may have exceeded his constitutional powers in trying to suspend the two ministers, Kibaki’s reversal of the decision underscores the disconnect between Kenya’s two leaders.

Selassie said that while Kibaki was first elected president in December 2002 on an anti-corruption platform, he is now reluctant to act against senior figures implicated in scandals.

A PricewaterhouseCoopers audit made public last week shows Kenya lost $26.1 million through corrupt deals that stemmed from a government program to provide subsidized maize for Kenya’s poor. Government auditors uncovered fraud in a program to offer free primary education — two scandals that led Odinga to try to dismiss the Cabinet ministers.

Average Kenyans still want their government to fight graft, but now they especially want their leaders to work together and prevent violence from erupting again.

“We expect this to be resolved,” said Sihanya. “Otherwise the alternative is quite dire for the country.”

source:  The Associated Press

The government on Monday admitted that it would not keep the promise it made to the International Criminal Court to set up a local tribunal by September 30.

Instead, it will write to the ICC asking for more time to pass the law which will set up the tribunal.

This is the third time the government is failing to honour deadlines in bringing to justice those who masterminded the violence that erupted after the 2007 presidential election.

‘We have failed’

“Let us face the facts as they are; we cannot beat the deadline set by the ICC during our July 3 meeting. We have failed,” admitted Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs minister Mutula Kilonzo.

At that meeting, the government committed to setting up the tribunal and provide information on witness protection and progress in investigations.

“On the other two, we have already achieved. But we have failed to convince the country to accept a credible judicial mechanism for trying the post-election violence perpetrators,” Mr Kilonzo said.

Parliament went on recess without discussing the Imanyara Bill, which proposes the establishment of such a tribunal. The Cabinet rejected a similar proposal by Mr Kilonzo.

Mr Kilonzo said although the Bill had received the Speaker’s consent, it was still not tabled. “Therefore, we haven’t fulfilled our obligation,” he said, adding that he would either write or call ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo to brief him on the new development.

“We will tell him sorry,” he said.

The minister did not seem too sure how he was going to get in touch with Mr Moreno-Ocampo, saying he had not decided whether to write or call him.

Closed chapter

He also seemed to have given up on a local tribunal, at one time saying he considered it a “closed chapter” and that the sooner Mr Moreno-Ocampo comes to Kenya, the better for the country.

Kenya has ratified and domesticated the Rome Statutes and the ICC prosecutor was free to come into the country. The Internal Security ministry had the power to extend such as invitation, said Mr Kilonzo.

A request for an extension of time is unlikely to be received warmly at The Hague.

In a statement on the ICC website, Mr Moreno-Ocampo said he wanted to make Kenya an example to the world on how to deal with impunity.

President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga were to sign a pact for the formation of the tribunal by December 17, last year. After that, MPs were to have until January 30, 2009, to amend the Constitution and entrench the tribunal, which was to be up and running by March 1, 2009.

Kenya asked for more time until end of July, and later until September 3.

“The failure lies on the shoulders of the whole country and I cannot carry the baby alone,” Mr Kilonzo said.

He was speaking at a Naivasha hotel during an induction for members of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC).

He told the team that the TJRC Act gave them the independence to do their work without interference.

Witch-hunting

“Universally, TJRCs are known to be very expensive. It is, therefore, expected that you will design a process and structures that are responsive of these facts,” the minister said.

The truth team is not an instrument of prosecution or witch-hunting, nor can it be a whitewash as the sceptics would want to suggest, he said.

Kenya has ratified and domesticated the Rome Statutes and the ICC prosecutor was free to come into the country. The Internal Security ministry had the power to extend such as invitation, said Mr Kilonzo.

A request for an extension of time is unlikely to be received warmly at The Hague.

In a statement on the ICC website, Mr Moreno-Ocampo said he wanted to make Kenya an example to the world on how to deal with impunity.

President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga were to sign a pact for the formation of the tribunal by December 17, last year. After that, MPs were to have until January 30, 2009, to amend the Constitution and entrench the tribunal, which was to be up and running by March 1, 2009.

Kenya asked for more time until end of July, and later until September 3.

“The failure lies on the shoulders of the whole country and I cannot carry the baby alone,” Mr Kilonzo said.

He was speaking at a Naivasha hotel during an induction for members of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC).

He told the team that the TJRC Act gave them the independence to do their work without interference.

Witch-hunting

“Universally, TJRCs are known to be very expensive. It is, therefore, expected that you will design a process and structures that are responsive of these facts,” the minister said.

The truth team is not an instrument of prosecution or witch-hunting, nor can it be a whitewash as the sceptics would want to suggest, he said.

“It cannot target particular communities or individual personalities, otherwise its purpose would be defeated,” he said.

Its job is to heal the wounds of the victims and reconcile the nation, he said and called on the international community to help. The induction was attended by TJRC chairperson Bethuel Kiplagat, his deputy Betty Murungi and other commissioners.

originally posted @ The Nation

I urge you to read Justice Richard Goldstone’s wonderful and concise overview of the state of international justice, published on the Op-Ed page of today’s New York Times. It provides an encouraging assessment of the remarkable progress that has been made on the international justice front, a reminder that all the efforts to cultivate international respect for the rule of law, spearheaded by a “mature global network of human rights organizations”, are bearing fruit and reining in the culture of impunity enjoyed by the most powerful violators of human rights.  Perpetrators of mass atrocities used to living by the rule of force and negotiating amnesties and personal benefits in exchange for peace are finding out that that route to retirement is no longer open for them - Charles Taylor is a stark example.  And the arrogance of Fujimori’s ploy to return to Peru for a presidential run, even though he was a fugitive from justice, led to his landmark trial that ended in a conviction and 25-year sentence for human rights violations.

Justice Goldstone is right to remind us all about the progress made in the quest for a world where justice and human dignity prevail.  Human rights activists and concerned citizens, often feeling beleaguered and powerless in the face of myriad conflicts, unbridled violence, and oppressive regimes, need to see that if we persevere there is light at the end of the tunnel.  Justice Goldstone was just awarded the MacArthur Award for International Justice, a well deserved recognition of his incredible career and accomplishments in advancing international justice, a list too long to enumerate in this post.  Skylight Pictures made a short film that honors Justice Goldstone’s role in the creation of an effective international justice system - it was shown at the MacArthur-sponsored award ceremony in The Hague on May 25, and you can see it here.

Now we have to get down to the business of bringing accountability for the abuses of rule of law and human dignity perpetrated during the Bush administration - No One Above the Law! And that includes President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan…

Accountability is not something a constituency should have to beg from its government.  A lack of transparency and a paper trail of secrets is not something that people who fight for their country and defend their democracy deserve. Alas, these types of abuses of power and abstractions of the law have become so commonplace over the last eight years that it’s hard to remember where we started and how we got into this mess.

With the recent release of the Bush administration terrorism memos we are beginning to learn first-hand what many Americans and people around the world suspected had terribly gone wrong with this manipulation of governance.  During the aftermath of (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) the Bush administration decided it would be a opportune moment enact a complete deconstruction of social liberties and give itself the type of impunity only sought after by the types of despots and dictators that the American government has long vowed to dethrone and displace. 

In 1998 we saw the indictment of Augusto Pinochet by the Spanish Magistrate Baltasar Garzón for crimes against humanity. On April 7, 2009 the world saw former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori found guilty of human right abuses and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Finally, on March 4th 2009 the ICC issued an unprecedented arrest warrant for sitting head of state Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir on counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes. Obviously there is a strong trend afoot in the international community to stop the egregious abuses of power and the murder of innocent civilian populations under the threat of war. We are witnessing a gradual acceptance of an international rule of law, but there is still much momentum to be built.  Not that there hasn’t been an acceptance since the Nuremberg trials as a result of World War II or after the signing of the Rome Statue, but I mean the active and engaged acceptance that brings crimes to the surface of public opinion and furthermore its criminals to court.

In March a Spanish court has moved forward into opening an official criminal investigation against top administration officials in the former Bush administration including former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and former Justice Department Lawyer John C. Yoo for allegedly violating international law “by providing the legal framework to justify the torture of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba”.  This bold step is led by none other than Baltasar Garzón, and is a necessary beginning towards accountability for the United States. Although it may be unnecessary for the United States to have to export its alleged criminals, it does seem imminent that something must be done about them. The past eight years of American involvement in foreign and domestic politics has not only been an embarrassment but a potentially ruthless and criminal interpretation of the law and must not go unpunished.

Spain’s Attorney General has already encouraged Garzón to drop his investigation into the Bush administration and President Barack Obama has assured C.I.A. operatives involved in the torture described in the terrorism memo’s “that they would not be prosecuted for actions that their superiors told them were legal.”  Are the people of the United States going to step-up and make sure its leaders are accountable for their actions?  Are they going to vow against impunity and support a global rule of law? 

How is it possible that the international community continues to allow the LRA to perpetrate atrocities with impunity?  In today’s article by Jeffrey Gettleman in the New York Times, he describes the horrific violence inflicted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels on villagers in the northeastern corner of the Congo, around Garamba National Park where the LRA has been hiding for the past few years.  Since last December the LRA has been rampaging, pillaging, raping, maiming, kidnapping and killing these innocent villagers, in retaliation for a botched military offensive against them by the Ugandan and Congolese armies (with U.S. advisers involved) after peace negotiations failed.  These poor villagers don’t even understand the LRA rebels who are mostly from northern Uganda and speak Acholi, not the local language Lingala.  So they emerge from the bush, armed to the teeth and speaking a strange language, and proceed to massacre the unfortunate civilians - can you even begin to imagine such a nightmare?  Is it possible that we, the international community, are incapable of bringing the LRA to its knees?  This is shameful and tragic.  Where are the LRA getting their guns, their bullets?  They may extract food from the villagers, but not bullets and grenades to replenish their arsenal.  Who pays for their satellite phone accounts?  Where is the cash support flowing from?  Are we really expected to believe that this information is unattainable?  Can’t the satellite phone carriers shut down the LRA accounts, or use the phones to trace their movements?  Whomever is aiding and abetting them on the outside must be immediately arrested and prosecuted.  If the U.S. was advising the Ugandan and Congolese forces, why can’t the ultra-sophisticated global intelligence system created to track potential terrorists, with satellites that can detect movements and heat emissions under the jungle canopy, be brought to bear on the LRA?  If the international community doesn’t pull out all the stops now to bring this escalating horror to an end, we will have failed miserably - we already have failed the 1,000 victims of the latest LRA rampage.  I commend Jeffrey Gettleman for making this ongoing story a priority, and our response has to be to end the story (nightmare).

I am troubled by a persistent current of thought regarding ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo’s call for the arrest of the President of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.  Judges at the ICC are currently considering whether to issue the warrants, and based on leaked information that was published in the Washington Post (now taken down from their website after the ICC Public Information Office denied that warrants had been issued), I suspect that the judges will issue warrants charging al-Bashir with war crimes and crimes against humanity, but not genocide.  In any case, those who say that the warrants for al-Bashir should be suspended or retracted if they are issued are putting forth the worn-out argument that the international community is treading on thin ice and may provoke a violent backlash from al-Bashir, thereby derailing the peace process in Sudan (What peace process? Can they be serious?).  A good example of this is an article from the Guardian UK by Paul Adrian Raymond, quoting Alex De Waal of course, saying that al-Bashir will lash out, that Africa will retreat from international justice and become a “universal jurisdiction free zone”.  These arguments claiming that justice is an idealistic folly of human rights advocates are on the wrong side of history.  I was raised in Latin America in a time when dictators ruled and they were considered untouchable.  But civil society persevered, often mocked for their “futile efforts”, and now 30 years later, lo and behold, generals went to prison, dictators were put on trial, and Latin America is practically a dictator-free zone.  Justice played a crucial role in this transformation, and the establishment of the rule of law has become a given in most Latin American societies - witness the ongoing trial of ex-President Alberto Fujimori of Peru, now in the dock facing charges of human rights violations in his own country.  I think that eventually the rule of law will prevail in Africa as well, and if the ICC helps it get there, it will be fulfilling its justice mandate.  I don’t buy the Alex De Waal argument - I think that the majority of Africans want the rule of law to prevail, regardless of what their leaders may say.  Power doesn’t like limits, and the ICC is a threat to those who would prefer to operate with impunity, but I think that the impunity gap will be closed.  And as ICC Deputy Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda says, “Africa is at the vanguard of international justice”.  Africa is the continent with the highest number of countries that are members of the ICC, and it’s good to remember that Prosecutor Moreno Ocampo did not initiate the ICC cases in Africa - Uganda, the DR Congo and the Central African Republic are all ICC member states, and they referred themselves to the ICC, and the Sudan/Darfur case was referred to the ICC by the UN Security Council.  So these charges that the Prosecutor has targeted Africa have no foundation - these conflicts in Africa are real, and accountability must be pursued or there will never be peace.