- Title: KENYA: Two Kenyans facing ICC cases to run jointly in vote
- Date: 3rd December 2012
- Summary: EDITORS NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS 4:3 MATERIAL NAIROBI, KENYA (DECEMBER 03, 2012) (REUTERS) WIDE OF PODIUM, VARIOUS OF WILLIAM RUTO'S UNITED REPUBLICAN PARTY AND UHURU KENYATTA'S NATIONAL ALLIANCE PARTY MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING SIGNING CEREMONY WILLIAM RUTO AND UHURU KENYATTA LOOKING ON VARIOUS OF PARTY WHIPS SIGNING THE AGREEMENT, PARTY WHIPS HOLDING UP SIGNED AGREEMENT
- Embargoed: 18th December 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Kenya
- Country: Kenya
- Topics: Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA6OI2G9Z60YGSR6NYFEVOSB9KI
- Story Text: Two Kenyan presidential hopefuls indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for allegedly inciting post-election violence sign a pact to join forces in next year's vote by running on the same ticket.
Two Kenyan presidential hopefuls indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for allegedly inciting post-election violence on Monday (December 3) signed a pact join forces in next year's vote by running on the same ticket.
Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and former cabinet minister William Ruto announced the deal on Sunday (December 2) at a rally hosted by Ruto's United Republican Party and Kenyatta's The National Alliance party in the Rift Valley town of Nakuru, 140 km northwest of the capital Nairobi but put pen-to-paper late Monday (December 03) in a small ceremony at the heart of the capital Nairobi.
Under the agreement, Kenyatta will seek the presidency and former rival Ruto will be his vice presidential running mate.
"Under our leadership and watch, never again will blood be shed, property destroyed on account of political competition," said Ruto.
The Hague-based ICC said in July that four prominent Kenyans, including Kenyatta and Ruto, would be tried for their alleged roles in fuelling bloodshed in 2007 and 2008 that killed more than 1,200 people. All deny wrongdoing.
Their trials for crimes against humanity were set for April 2013, a month after presidential elections in east Africa's largest economy.
While addressing his supporters at the ceremony, Kenyatta said Kenyans should be allowed to exercise their democratic rights without influence from foreigners.
"From the time we were falsely accused we stood in front of the nation and the world and said we are determined to follow due process and to follow the law to clear our names, that my friends does not mean that we must be denied our rights," said Kenyatta.
Next year's election will be the first under a new constitution and the first since the 2007 poll that led to the violence. Kenya had previously been a relative haven of peace in a troubled region.
Ruto and Kenyatta's pairing raises the prospect of having Kenya's sitting president under indictment in the Hague but analyst say they still have to win voters over before the poll.
"Well, we are not there yet, they have not been elected and they have not won the election so they still have to fight in the elections and I think that is going to be their biggest challenge because all that William Ruto and Uhuru Kenyatta have done is to consolidate what they presume to be their support base. They are yet to speak to the rest of the country and present their platform," said a political analyst Tom Maliti.
Although both have said they will heed the April summons, there is speculation they will not appear. Many western governments had wanted the two men to face the court before the election.
"If the court issues arrest warrants against the two individuals that will have huge implications for the country because it will be assumed to the rest of the world that the leadership of Kenya are wanted criminals, accused people and therefore there will be questions asked in different capitals, in the continent in Africa and also in the world about whether those countries can do business with Kenya," added Maliti.
A Kenyan non-governmental organisation known as the International Centre for Peace and Conflict filed suit on Friday at the Kenyan High Court challenging Ruto and Kenyatta's suitability for elective office, given their cases at the Hague. The suit was filed after a similar case against the two was withdrawn.
The indictment of an elected president would put Kenya in situation similar to that of Sudan, where President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is wanted by the ICC to face charges of genocide and other atrocities.
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