{Kenya’s president said on Monday he would attend a hearing at the International Criminal Court this week, the first sitting world leader to appear in The Hague-based court, although he said he would be going in a personal capacity.}
Uhuru Kenyatta told parliament he was appointing his deputy, William Ruto, as acting president in his absence to avoid putting the “sovereignty of more than 40 million Kenyans on trial” and would not attend in his position as head of state.
Kenyatta faces charges of orchestrating ethnic killings after the contested 2007 election. Those charges could be dismissed at Wednesday’s hearing after the prosecution asked for the case to be adjourned as it did not have enough evidence.
Ruto faces separate but similar charges at the court.
Kenya’s Western allies and investors will likely welcome the decision to attend the hearing. Snubbing the court might have led judges to issue an arrest warrant that would have unsettled financial markets and strained diplomatic ties.
“Let it not be said that I am attending the status conference (at the court) as the president of the Republic of Kenya,” Kenyatta said in a speech to explain his decision to put Ruto temporarily in charge while he travelled.
Kenyatta has previously attended hearings before he was elected to office last year. Ruto has gone while in office.
The collapse of the case would be a blow to a court that has handed down just two guilty verdicts, both to little known Congolese warlords, and one acquittal since inception in 2003.
Reuters
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