{{Kenya on Wednesday signalled that President Uhuru Kenyatta was unlikely to travel to The Hague to attend his trial at the International Criminal Court where he is charged with crimes against humanity.}}
Foreign minister Amina Mohammed said President Kenyatta had fully cooperated with the court when he was the country’s deputy prime minister, but his new status as head of state completely changes the circumstances.
“Are the circumstances different? Absolutely, totally, completely different. Before, he wasn’t the head of state of the republic. It is going to be the first time that a sitting head is brought before any court of any time, not just here but anywhere in the world,” Ms Mohammed told a news conference at the steps of the president’s office in Nairobi.
On Saturday, African leaders are expected to hold a special sitting of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to discuss their future relationship with the ICC.
The Kenyan parliament last month passed a motion to pull out of the Rome Statute, but Ms Mohammed has denied reports that the country was lobbying the 34 African members of the ICC to withdraw from the statute en masse.
“I think it’s actually quite naïve to think that 34 countries can come together with the sole aim of moving out of the Rome Statute.
“We have not supported anybody to support a walk out…whether it was a mass walkout, we have never asked for that,” the Foreign minister said.
She added that the countries did not join the statute together and she could not see any reason why they would come together to discuss a possible walk out.
There have been calls within the AU for the continent’s ICC members to pull out in protest against the court’s alleged bias against African leaders.
source:capitalFM
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