海角大神

A day after Kenya turned its back on the International Criminal Court (ICC), officials at the Hague-based tribunal say they will not allow Kenya鈥檚 vice president to move the court hearings to East Africa.

Yesterday Kenya鈥檚 parliament voted to pull out of the ICC 鈥� the first African country to do so. That decision comes shortly before the ICC starts trials of Kenya's president and vice president. So far both men have said they will appear at The Hague, but speculation has begun that the vote may be the first step toward cutting off cooperation.听

President Uhuru Kenyatta and Vice President William Ruto were indicted for mass violence and deaths after the 2007 elections.听Ruto faces trial at the ICC next week, on Sept. 10, and Kenyatta on Nov. 12.听

This summer ICC officials hinted that they might allow parts of Ruto鈥檚 trial to take place in Kenya or Tanzania. But today, less than 24 hours after Kenyan lawmakers in a raucous session voted to leave the ICC, the possibility was ended.

Inside Kenya and in many African quarters, a juggernaut of anti-ICC sentiment has been building.听

As the Monitor 鈥榮 Mike Pflanz reported yesterday:听

听Kenya will become the first country to pull out of the International Criminal Court after legislators听Thursday听staged what amounted to a parliamentary revolt against the trials of the president and his deputy, scheduled to start next week.

An overwhelming majority of National Assembly members voted after four hours of largely one-sided debate to 鈥渨ithdraw from the Rome Statute,鈥� the treaty that established the world court in 2002.

The move was a clear snub to Kenya鈥檚 traditional allies in the West, who largely support the ICC and who have warned that Kenya risks isolation if its leaders fail to attend their trials.

Though it will likely play well with the many ordinary Kenyans whose support for the ICC has eroded as cases have dragged on,听the vote will, in fact, have no effect on the eight separate charges of crimes against humanity faced by Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya鈥檚 president, or William Ruto, his deputy. Mr. Ruto鈥檚 trial begins听Tuesday听in The Hague.

鈥淎 government鈥檚 decision would not change Kenya鈥檚 obligation under international law 鈥� to fully cooperate with the ICC in respect of cases that have already been initiated,鈥� says Fadi El Abdallah, spokesman for the ICC.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not possible to stop independent judicial and legal proceedings via political measures.鈥�

Fatou Bensouda, the ICC鈥檚 chief prosecutor, put it more bluntly: 听鈥淭he judicial process is now in motion,鈥� she says. 鈥淛ustice must run its course.鈥�

Fewer than half of Kenya's 349 legislators were present in the National Assembly chamber, with its banked rows of red leather-backed chairs and heavy red, green and black carpet.

Lawmaker Aden Duale, began the debate by saying the motion would "protect the sovereignty of our country and of our citizens" and "redeem the image of Kenya."听

Another legislator, during raucous speeches, said it was time to condemn the ICC to "the cesspool of history."

Mass walkout

Opposition legislators, who had said they would try to block the proposition, walked out en masse when they realized that they would not have the numbers to overturn the motion.

One, Jakoyo Midiwo, said before he left the chamber, that it was "a dark day for Kenya" and that the country would "suffer consequences of pulling out."听

Mr. Kenyatta, and Ruto, who deny all the ICC charges, are accused of having links to election violence that followed Kenya鈥檚 2007 election, when they were political opponents.

They are said to have been 鈥渋ndirect co-perpetrators鈥� of the two months of clashes that left more than 1,100 people dead and some 600,000 homeless.

Both have repeatedly promised to cooperate with the court, a position that was 鈥� officially at least 鈥� still in place as the parliamentary debate got underway.

'Setting the stage'

But analysts question if Thursday鈥檚 special sitting of the National Assembly, which was recalled from recess for the vote, was in fact preparing the ground for Kenyatta and his deputy to turn their backs on the court.

鈥淭hey seem to be setting the stage for some level of non-cooperation at some point,鈥� says Mwalimu Mati, director of Mars Group, a Kenyan governance watchdog.

鈥淭he vote seems to be a way for them to create a situation where they can say that the Kenyan people, through their representatives at the National Assembly, no longer want anything to do with the ICC," Mr. Mati continued.听鈥淭hat would make the survival of two individuals a matter that would have an impact on an entire country.鈥�

And that it would. A withdrawal from the international body would likely听further chill relations with traditional allies in the West, including the US, whose officials have repeatedly called for an end to impunity for political violence in Kenya.

On his summer trip to Africa, US President Obama bypassed Kenya, his father鈥檚 homeland, because it was considered improper and perhaps embarrassing for him to be hosted there by men accused of crimes against humanity.

Now if Kenyatta and Ruto refuse to turn up for their trials, the court鈥檚 judges can request arrest warrants are issued for them. Also, their travel beyond sympathetic states in Africa and, importantly, China, would be restricted. They may face individual economic sanctions.

All of this risks turning Kenya into a fringe state similar to Sudan under President Omar Al Bashir, who has ignored his indictment at the ICC for more than four years. (Sudan, unlike Kenya, is not currently a signatory to the ICC; the warrant against Mr. Al Bashir was referred by the UN Security Council.)

But all this is increasingly irrelevant to Kenya鈥檚 leaders, and its people, says Ngunjiri Wambugu, director of a Nairobi think tank who supported the move to withdraw the country from the Hague court.

鈥淭here鈥檚 no way this motion would have got this far if there was not support for it at the very top, and I think Kenyans are not really that worried about international law at the moment,鈥� he says.

鈥淭he conversation that鈥檚 going on here is that, yes, there may be no justice brought for the victims of the post-election violence, but if we pursued that justice would we compromise where we are now, in peace?," Mr. Wambugu asks, and answering his question offers that,听鈥淵es, it is impunity and yes, it is unjust, but is it so important to go back six years and go into all that again? Or should we close that chapter and make it a memory that we don鈥檛 forget, but we don鈥檛 dwell on dangerously, either?鈥�

Kenya鈥檚 decision to withdraw from the Rome Statute will not take effect for a year from the date that it officially applies to pull out. The country鈥檚 upper house of parliament, the Senate, will also need to ratify the motion, which it is expected to do.听