Jan 26 (Reuters) - Kenya's attempts to prevent trials of suspects at The Hague for their role in the east African country's post-election violence have sown deep divisions in the cabinet and angered rights groups across Africa.
Analysts see the moves as part of a wider plan by Kenya's powerful and wealthy ruling elite to try and control the outcome of the 2012 presidential vote. [ID:nLDE70C092]
They want two key suspects, who are part of their inner circle and candidates for the top post in east Africa's biggest economy, to avoid trials at The Hague because this is likely to knock them out of the country's presidential race in 2012.
* Christian Wenaweser, President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, met the head of the African Union (AU) Commission in Ethiopia on Tuesday and will visit Kenya for two days from Thursday.
* He is expected to discuss ICC concerns over a push by Kenya to block Hague trials, and a possible campaign, spearheaded by Kenya, for Africa to pull out of the ICC process.
* Last year, the AU told members not to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir despite an ICC warrant and the Kenyan case is likely to be discuseed at a heads of state summit starting on Jan. 30.
* The ICC prosecutor on Dec. 15 named three Kenyan cabinet ministers and a former police chief among six suspects behind the post-election violence. [ID:nLDE6BE1MJ]
* Prominent among the six suspects were Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, son of Kenya's founding father Jomo Kenyatta, and William Ruto, the higher education minister who has been suspended to fight a corruption case. Both have declared they will run for president.
* Some 1,300 people died in the mayhem that followed the December 2007 election, severely damaging Kenya's economy and reputation for stability in a turbulent region.
* A few days before the release of the names by ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, President Mwai Kibaki said he wanted any suspects named to be tried by a local tribunal.
* Parliament is due to pass laws in February to revamp the judiciary and appoint a new Chief Justice as per its new constitution promulgated in August. Those proposing a local tribunal say such reforms will enable Kenya to try the cases.
* Politicians plan to have the tribunal in place before the ICC holds pre-trial hearings in March to confirm or reject the cases against the six suspects.
* In 2008, parliament shot down a proposal for a local tribunal, triggering the ICC's probe of the election violence.
* After the suspects were named by the ICC, lawmakers passed a motion urging Kenya to withdraw from the Rome Statute that established the ICC. [ID:nLDE6BL1RA]
* Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga said he and the government opposed the plans to leave the ICC, and any trials of should go ahead at The Hague. [ID:nLDE6BM0PU]
* Kenya's Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka has visited South Africa, Uganda, Malawi and Ethiopia to meet the presidents of those countries to lobby for their support in Kenya's efforts to persuade The Hague to defer the ICC cases to Nairobi.
* On Tuesday, Musyoka said he was acting as a special envoy of Kibaki to try and win support for Kenya's position ahead of the AU Summit in Addis Ababa later this week. Libya and Nigeria are next on Musyoka's list of countries to be visited.
* Odinga said he did not support Musyoka's visits to African capitals on the ICC issue and the cabinet had not agreed to the trips, revealing a split over Musyoka's charm offensive.
* Fifty one Africa-based rights groups on Monday asked Kenya to reaffirm its commitment to the ICC, and urged African states that are parties to the ICC to reject any steps at the AU summit that would undermine justice for post-election violence victims.
* Several Kenyan rights groups have launched a "Yes to ICC Campaign" urging citizens to take personal repsonsibility by signing a petition to prevent the government withdrawing from the ICC. They say this would undermine justice for the victims of the violence, and prevent the truth from coming out. (Reporting by James Macharia; Editing by David Clarke and Louise Ireland)
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