Judges at the International Criminal Court have picked a Kenyan lawyer to represent victims of Post-Election Violence in one of the two Kenyan cases at The Hague.

Yesterday the International Criminal Court at The Hague reduced the “Ocampo Six” to the “Ocampo Four”.

It confirmed charges against four of the six Kenyans charged with crimes against humanity following the 2008 post-election violence.

Deputy Prime Minister and minister of Finance Uhuru Kenyatta, former Higher Education minister William Ruto, Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura, and Kass FM programmes chief Joshua arap Sang might have to defend themselves at the court.

Former Police chief Maj-Gen Hussein Ali and suspended Industrialisation minister Henry Kosgey were let off the hook.

The four are appealing, and the ICC Chief Prosecutor, as he usually does, will probably appeal the decision in favour of Mr Ali and Mr Kosgey.

Whatever happens, all the four were merely players in the great political drama of Kenya that will continue years after they are off the political scene and have been forgotten.

This is because one of the many ways to understand the ICC case is to reflect on the big Kenyan drama.

Kenya’s history of the last 100 year has produced several key currents, which all played out in the ICC case. Two of them were on play yesterday.

British colonialism and white settlement was particularly devastating for Central Kenya. They
resulted in massive displacements of the people from their land and an intense cultural struggle that led to founding the first independent churches in Africa and the bitter Mau Mau rebellion.

From an outsider’s reading of Kenya’s history and discussion with the more reflective individuals
from Central Kenya today, this history has produced, first, a near permanent millennial movement in the Mountain region (which the outlawed Mungiki sect that was allegedly mobilised by Uhuru for attacks in the Rift Valley loosely represents).

Secondly, it makes the colonial experience a deeply felt form of invasion for Central Kenya. It seems to drive the region to hanker for a Messiah, a Saviour who will restore to the children of the House of Mumbi the lands of their ancestors.

The Mountain region has never really found the perfect Messiah. In some ways Uhuru seemed to fill that void during the height of the chaos.

Whether Uhuru survives or not, the current that propelled him to power will not die out. There will likely be more Messiahs from Central Kenya, and there will be a lot more successor movements to Mungiki.

The other side of this complex tango is in the Rift Valley. While the Central Kenya psyche is both
driven and distorted by alienation, the Rift Valley’s is fuelled by dispossession.

From wherever colonialism displaced Kenyans, it seemed to send most of them to the then vast and fertile hills and valleys of the Rift.

The notion that the “immigrant” Kenyans were pioneer Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who
would eventually go back when calm returned to their villages, and return the places they had settled back to the “rightful owners” seems to have been bubbling underneath the Rift Valley for decades.

There is an inescapable sense of self-righteous right to repossession one gets from even the most
left-wing liberal Rift Valleyian when it comes to the region’s land, and the place of the other Kenyans who settled there.

Whether or not they see themselves that way, people like Ruto have about them the appeal of a Robinhood. Designer rebels crusading to repossess the commons for their people, who have been driven to suffer in the woods by grabbing outsiders.

For this historical reason, there is now in Rift Valley a market for a heroic Robinhood, a protector of the Nilotes’ pastures against acquisitive Bantu hordes.

twitter: @cobbo3

With Kenyan and now Ivory Coast suspects charged, some commentators see international court as deterrent to political violence.

By Timothy Chepsoi

The arrest of the former president of Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo, last week, means the International Criminal Court, ICC, has now charged leading officials from two African states with orchestrating violence following elections.

The ICC cases in Kenya and Ivory Coast pose the question whether orchestrated electoral violence could be a thing of the past in Africa.

The ICC has summoned six Kenyan public figures, including the deputy prime minister and the former police commissioner, who face charges of crimes against humanity for the violence that erupted after the country’s 2007 presidential polls.

Approximately 1,100 people were killed and over 3,000 injured during violent uprisings that were eventually halted by a power-sharing deal between the Orange Democratic Movement, ODM, and the Party of National Unity, PNU in early 2008.

The former Ivory Coast leader Gbagbo is charged with four counts of crimes against humanity, including murder and rape allegedly perpetrated against civilians in Abidjan and the west of the country between December 2010 and April 2011, as he refused to cede power to the incoming president, Alassane Outarra.

Experts believe the action the ICC has taken in Kenya and Ivory Coast will go a long way towards deterring future unrest on the back of elections in Africa. However, both countries will need to carry out long-term reforms to underpin the deterrent value of criminal justice.

“The ICC intervention in Kenya and [Ivory Coast] can show how international justice has a positive impact on trying to address some of the consequences of electoral frauds and disputes,” said David Donat Cattin of the non-government group Parliamentarians for Global Action.

He also pointed to the need for countries to conduct their own criminal investigations alongside those of the ICC in order to complete the justice process – something Kenya has so far failed to do.

“In [Ivory Coast] the statements of [President] Outarra are really good, because he is saying he is going to investigate the crimes of Gbagbo and other economic crimes, whereas he will leave it to the ICC to investigate [alleged] war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Donat Cattin said.
Experts believe that as a result of the ICC’s intervention in Kenya, there is less likelihood of a repeat of the systematic, planned violence seen in 2007.

“If, in another election, [Kenya’s leaders] are going to plan or to organise or to finance people to engage in criminal activity the fact that you are likely to be prosecuted at the international level is going to act as a deterrent,” Nina Okuta, senior human rights officer at Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, said.

The summoning of six Kenyan suspects to The Hague appears to have calmed the febrile political atmosphere in the country, but more lasting effects will only become apparent once the charges against them are confirmed, and if convictions are secured.

Another constraint on the deterrent factor of cases brought before the ICC is that the court’s reach is limited – it seeks to prosecute only those who are held most responsible for crimes. In Kenya, only the six most senior alleged perpetrators have been brought before the court, so that hundreds if not thousands of others will escape similar legal action.

“In the long term, [deterrence] could be a problem. We can’t hope that the court is going to provide a solution,” Okuta said.

In Ivory Coast, critics have accused the ICC of missing an opportunity to prevent the atrocities committed in 2010 by failing to intervene earlier.

The ICC gained jurisdiction in the Ivory Coast in 2003 following the internal armed conflict that split Ivory Coast in two, but it did not take action against those responsible for abuses.

“The ICC didn’t intervene and wasn’t seen as much of a threat [in 2010],” Donat Cattin said. “Maybe the ICC could have had a much more preventive and dissuasive role [in the 2010 violence] if it had intervened in the previous [2003] conflict.

“The sooner international justice can intervene, the better the impact is on the leaders on the ground, who receive the warning that certain acts of violence are intolerable and should not be committed any more.”

The ICC has also attracted criticism for not intervening even-handedly in all the countries where it has jurisdiction and where prosecutable crimes may have taken place.

Kenya was the first case in which ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo used his powers to initiate an investigation, without the conflict being referred either by the state itself or by the United Nations Security Council.

“If this [deterrent factor] is to be continued and sustained, it needs the ICC to be credible, to be persistent, to be coherent, to be consistent, to intervene in all situations in a similar way, [and] to apply justice in a way that is predictable,” Donat Cattin said.

Experts are cautious about the extent to which ICC prosecutions alone will deter future atrocities.

“We have, in various contexts where conflicts have occurred, the realisation that prosecutions in and of themselves are not sufficient to deter criminal conduct within a society,” Christine Alai of the International Centre for Transitional Justice in Kenya said.

“While [impunity] thrives at the top levels of the executive, that impunity also thrives among us, as members of society. So addressing the question of impunity at the topmost level is critical, but other measures must also be put in place to guarantee that there will not be a recurrence of violations or violence every electoral year.”

In Kenya, the real deterrent against future electoral violence lies within the country’s own legislative structures. The 2007-08 violence took place amid a lack of a robust electoral and judicial systems to settle disputes and thus prevent violence, experts say.

“A country with a trusted judicial system and a trusted electoral management body is very likely to have very peaceful elections. because people know and trust the system,” Njeri Kabeberi, executive director of the Centre for Multi-Party Democracy in Kenya, said. “In Kenya we had a crisis because the electoral management body failed the country, but also our judicial system was not to be trusted. So anyone with a dispute could not trust that going to court was going to assist them.”

In addition to ICC intervention, reforms to national systems should reduce the risk of violence and lower the incendiary power of elections, in which the stakes are high for those in, or seeking, office.

Kenya’s new constitution, passed in August 2010, makes provision for some of these reforms, including changes to the judiciary and the security services, and devolution of some powers from the central executive to county level. According to Alai, “If we can begin to achieve a level of reforms within those institutions, then we begin to guarantee our people that we will never again have to face similar occurrences in our country.”

Alai argues that it is Kenya and other states, and not ultimately the ICC, that must act to prevent abuses.

“The bulk of the work remains to be done, and it is not the responsibility of the ICC,” she said “It is the responsibility of the government of Kenya.”

Timothy Chepsoi is an IWPR-trained journalist in Nairobi.

http://iwpr.net/report-news/can-icc-prosections-stem-electoral-violence

Some believe court must bolster activities on the ground to counter politicisation of cases.

By IWPR contributor

Amid an intensifying campaign by supporters of six senior public figures facing charges at the International Criminal Court, ICC, the Kenyan government is being accused of frustrating the court’s outreach efforts inside the country.

Meanwhile, questions have been raised about the success of the ICC outreach programme, and about whether its intervention in Kenya has been sufficiently robust.

Local and international rights groups say that while the ICC started its outreach programme in Kenya at a fairly early stage, the delay in establishing a permanent local office left a gap that has been exploited by politicians allied to some of the suspects.

There is also concern that the ICC outreach unit is not receiving the political support it needs to help correct gross misconceptions about the court’s work among communities affected by the post-election violence of 2007-08.

At least 1,100 people died and 3,500 were injured during two months of violent unrest that followed a disputed presidential election in December 2007.

The court has charged six prominent figures, including deputy prime minister Uhuru Kenyatta and former education minister William Ruto, with crimes against humanity for their alleged role in planning the attacks.

Two cases have been filed by the prosecutor, with three suspects in each.

The deputy head of the Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights, Hassan Omar Hassan, says a section of the Kenyan government has been deliberately blocking the ICC’s attempts to give the public accurate information about matters relating to the two cases.

“We raised concerns about [outreach activities] from the outset, after we realised that political actors involved in the two cases were misinforming the public on the impact and consequences of the initial appearances and confirmation of charges stages [of court proceedings],” Hassan said.

The court’s outreach activities started in Kenya in December 2009 after the prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, requested authorisation to launch an investigation into the 2007-08 violence. The outreach office was not set up until August this year, following a visit to Kenya by the ICC’s registrar, Silvana Arbia.

The International Centre for Policy and Conflict, ICPC, a Kenyan non-government organisation working on transitional justice and conflict resolution, says the ICC’s failure to establish an outreach office as soon as the investigation started meant local organisations were forced to step in, more often than not without adequate resources.

“Many NGO’s have received threats after being seen to be working closely with the ICC,” the ICPC’s executive director Ndungu Wainaina said.

Experts say that outreach activities alone are not the ultimate solution to the mass of misinformation and politicisation surrounding cases before the ICC, but they can help to counter the problem.

“We cannot say that outreach will automatically cure the politicisation, but it can make it harder to do that because if your everyday person on the ground already has information about the ICC process – that it is an independent judicial process – then it will be hard for people who want to spin it as a biased process to make their argument,” Elizabeth Evenson, senior counsel at the New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch, said.

Both of the Kenyan cases at the ICC involve high profile politicians, as well as the country’s former police commissioner. The ICC’s outreach coordinator in Kenya, Maria Mabinty Kamara, says these high-profile cases have attracted great interest in the court’s workings, but at times also misinformation.

A failed attempt by Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka to lobby other African countries to support a deferral of the Kenyan cases is seen by some as a clear example of how the government is trying to undermine the ICC’s mandate.

President Mwai Kibaki has also been seen as taking sides by writing to ICC judges in a bid to exonerate one of the suspects, civil service chief Francis Muthaura, during the recent confirmation of charges hearings.

“This is a clear example of how the government does not in any way support the ICC,” Wainaina said.

Kenya’s justice minister Mutula Kilonzo admits the government is walking a tightrope – it is aware of the propaganda put out about the ICC cases, but is reluctant to engage in civic education for fear of being misunderstood, or accused of bias towards either victims or suspects.

“My mandate is to the victims and to the suspects,” he said. By engaging in civic education it might be construed to mean I am supporting one side [over the other] which is [far] from the truth,” Kilonzo said.

He strenuously rejected charges that the current coalition government, formed after the clashes ended in 2008, is itself hampering ICC outreach efforts.

“Those making such allegations are busybodies who don’t understand what the government has done in terms of cooperating with the ICC. We have agreed to all requests by the ICC registrar, including granting visas for their staff and facilitating the setting up of an office here in the country,” he said, noting that a special cabinet subcommittee had been set up to liaise with the court.

Amason Jeffa Kingi, another cabinet minister and a member of the ICC liaison subcommittee, disagreed. He said there were people in the cabinet who were obstructing the ICC process with a campaign to smear the court.

“While the position of the coalition government is that we will cooperate fully with the ICC, as demanded of us by the Rome Statute [the founding treaty], it is however unfortunate that some senior individuals in government issue statements that [call] into question the mandate of the ICC,” Kingi said.

Justice Minister Kilonzo acknowledges that there are deep-seated differences between the coalition partners regarding support for the ICC. After the suspects were named by the court, some officials publicly called on President Kibaki to withdraw Kenya from the Rome Statute. Kilonzo says such statements have sent out contradictory messages to the public as to whether the government fully supports the ICC.

In terms of outreach on the ground, some parts of Kenya that bore the brunt of the violence are barely aware of the court, despite outreach activities that began more than a year ago.

At the Mawingu Camp where more than 1,000 displaced families are still living three years after the violence, people say they have not seen any of the court’s officers in the area.

“We have been waiting to see these officials and talk to them, but none have been here so far. Politicians come here and demonise the ICC, and we have so many questions but no answers are forthcoming from Ocampo and his team,” Rose Wanjiku, chairperson of the Mawingu Camp, said.

The outreach office says it faces financial challenges and cannot do everything expected of it all at once. “Most of the funds we had were directed to media initiatives, but it is not as much as we would have liked,” Kamara said.

Nevertheless, she says, the outreach office has been able to engage with some local NGOs, media and leaders of affected communities to promote a better understanding of the court process.

The ICC office has yet to start the next phase of outreach activities, which will be aimed at explaining what the outcome of the confirmation of charges hearings means, correcting misconceptions, and addressing the expectations of victims and the wider Kenyan public.

“The Kenyan case is one of the earliest interventions in terms of outreach initiatives,” Kamara said. “Unlike other situations where it took a lot of time before the [ICC’s] outreach programme was initiated, for Kenya we have been closely working in line with the judicial process.

Right from the outset when the prosecutor launched investigations, we closely followed what the media was reporting, and we realised the level of inaccuracies that needed to be addressed.”

The ICPC says the ICC office will have to engage with the public much more effectively if its outreach activities are to have any impact amid the challenges that face the court.

“In Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo there has been a robust and open engagement of the victims. But in Kenya the situation has been completely different. One reason why there is so much misinformation is because the outreach unit [of the ICC] has not been very proactive in providing information to the general public,” Wainaina said.

Human Rights Watch has praised the ICC for setting up an outreach office in Kenya at a relatively early stage compared with other countries where the court has charged suspects. It believes the challenge now is to ensure that the office builds on some of the lessons learnt from earlier efforts elsewhere.

“We acknowledge that there are of course security challenges, but the team must now start having face-to-face meetings in places that were most affected by the violence,” Evenson said. “The Kenyan team can learn from the Democratic Republic of Congo where the ICC has initiated listening clubs among womenfolk. These clubs have had a huge impact in informing and stimulating debate among the public.”

Other international human rights groups such as the Open Society Justice Initiative believe that the ICC outreach team in Kenya does not need to look far for lessons on how to carry out a successful programme.

“Sierra Leone was a huge success. It successfully engaged Sierra Leoneans about the work of the court generally, and the trial process,” said Alpha Sessay, of the Open Society Justice Network. “The Sierra Leone model can successfully be adopted by the Kenyan outreach team as it is largely acknowledged as a blueprint for how such courts can work with the community.”

Kamara says the outreach office is expecting more funds soon to conduct what she calls a “massive mass outreach campaign” to prepare the ground for the verdict of the confirmation of charges hearings.

“One of our greatest challenges will be to manage the huge expectations of the public regarding this phase of the Kenyan case. We will have to clarify what the court can do at this stage, and what it cannot do,” she said.

Ahmednasir Abdullahi is a commissioner with the Judicial Service Commissioner (JSC) and the editor of Law Monthly Magazine.

On the Ocampo Six ICC cases at the Hague he had this to say:

"I have always said and I am saying it, I mean, the Hague is a political process, it is a European court for Africans and if you look at the legal issues, I don't think there is a case really.....there was no investigations. I think that came out very clearly in terms of the evidence or alleged evidence that he (Ocampo) has is very poor, very poor.......Ocampo should be charged with professional misconduct, because he hasn't done a proper job as a prosecutor.

When you are prosecuting you must have a water tight case. If you don't have a water tight case, you must not prosecute and I think that history will judge him very harshly in my view no matter how the case goes because I think he has let down both the suspects and the victims in terms of what kind of investigations he did.... He is a drama queen really, he really enjoys when he talks on camera, but as a lawyer, I think he was very poor."

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My primary school civics teacher taught me that Kenya is a sovereign nation. He emphasized to me that sovereign nations have independent institutions such as the executive, legislature and judiciary to man their affairs of governance. He also taught me that acts of poking fingers in other nation’s affairs despite protest are called intrusion. The governments clamor to set up a local court to adjudicate on the PEV issue should be respected and given a chance.

Kenyans must decisively deal with the PEV and the resultant issues which threaten to divide the nation. Political leaders must spare the country ugly dramas as they engage in unnecessary noises politicizing the PEV issues to suit their selfish power struggle missions at the expense of the country’s dignity and sovereignity.No one should hoodwink Kenyans. The lives of forty million citizens is not dependent on the anti or pro Hague process, however the political lives of majority of the current breed of politicians hangs on the manner in which the PEV issues are handled. The country is far superior to fears, aspirations and political ambitions of individuals and it will survive them.

This week marks one of the most disgraceful events in Kenya political history. After systematic reckless handling of the legislations intended to resolve the ugly aftermaths of 2007 elections, the country nudity will be exposed at the Hague, a foreign jurisdiction. This will be a clear
manifestation of the country leadership ineptness and outright ridicule of Kenya independence struggle. Tribalism, raw political greed and wild political power struggle amongst a small cable of political elites and opportunists risk delivering this country to dogs of neocolonialism.

Whether any of the Ocampo six is guilty or not is immaterial. Kenyans must be tried in their country for any crime committed within the country so long as the country professes to be independent. Jaramogi odinga, Masinde Muliro, Harry Thuku, Dedan Kimathi, and many of the
founding fathers of this nation must be turning in their graves as they mourn the betrayal of the nation by power hungry political bootlickers.

On 28/2/2008, I wrote an Article in the Daily Nation, “Constitution and Legal Reforms Are the Solution” and stated that the PEV and other past political injustices should be resolve under a reformed constitutional dispensation. I underscored the importance of respecting Kenya’s political sovereignty and the self determination by the citizens to realizing a new constitution to effective fully address historical injustices and dark history of the nation. I stated that Kenyans have capacity to shape their own destiny, coexist harmoniously and pursue national growth and development for national good.

Whereas the country must earn its dignity by honoring its obligations under the international treaties and conventions, it is contemptuous for friendly nations or individuals to campaign and administer alien prescriptions to cure maladies affecting the country. It is perilous and reckless for our legislators and leaders to mortgage this country sovereignty by blindly absconding their duties of passing patriotic legislations that would effectively address social economic and political
challenges facing Kenyans.

The enactment of a reformed constitution presented the country an unprecedented golden opportunity to soberly address the genesis and the effects of PEV.However negative attributes of anti reforms, tribalism, political expedience, foreigners worship, and misplaced political priorities have significantly contributed to making Kenya a symbol of international ridicule and shame among communities of nations.
The circumstances facing the Ocampos six are of their own making and whatever the outcome of the process they like other Kenyans must be prepared to embrace ethos of patriotism in future.
Similarly the current uncertainties facing the nation have been greatly contributed by Kenyans whose indolence and absolute lack of vigilance has glorified political elites into demi gods.

Kenyans must abandon the despicable culture of hero worshipping politicians but rather wake up and participate in national affairs reasserting their rights under the new constitution by seeking remedies and interpretation of national policies within the rightful institutions. This will definitely hold the leaders and political leadership into account castrating their selfish political agrandisement.

The Hague trials are of absolute no value to this nation much more so when the obvious key culprits are left sitting pretty, enjoying dividends of the PEV in warmth of plum public offices. These trials are of no benefit for realization of justice for the victims of the PEV or perpetrators of the heinous acts of the violence. These trials do not add value to growth of Kenyans institution of justice or jurisprudence.

It is not debatable whether perpetrators of PEV should be subjected to court process, the answer is yes. It is obvious that genuine victims of PEV should be compensated whereas bogus IDPs manufactured by misguided provincial admistrators as cash cows must be isolated and
punished. The stolen funds must be returned.

However the PEV challenges should serve as a renaissance for Kenyans to evaluate their levels of patriotism, build trust in their institution of governance and endeavor to put in place credible leaders to manage the public affairs. Kenyans must decree that any leader who negates the aspirations of the founding fathers of this nation be not worth the name and be ejected from office. Similarly leaders who push clandestine agendas betraying their country, ridiculing local institutions to achieve selfish political gains must also be ostracized and their demons cast in deep see of political oblivion. Every Kenya has the business and onus of making this country and its institution great for posterity. It is high time an Act of parliament on Patriotism and Nationalism is enacted.

George N Kimani, Nairobi (The writer is an Advocate of the High Court. Email gkihingo@yahoo.com)

PRESIDENT MWAI KIBAKI: The former Defence Minister and longtime Kibaki confidante, Njenga Karume, let the cat out of the bag on the sole occasion when he and the then Leader of Official Oppostion, Mwai Kibaki, had a public falling out. This was when Karume, who had long been the patron of Kibaki's party of that time, the Democratic Party, shifted his allegiance to Uhuru Kenyatta, who had been anointed by President Daniel arap Moi to be his successor, in mid-2002. Karume announced that Kibaki was a singularly ungrateful man who never took any consideration of what others had done to help advance his political career. If there was any truth in that statement, then it is reasonable to assume that the predominant thought in the President's mind at present, is relief that he was not on that list, especially as the retaliatory attacks were reportedly planned in State House. Now he is free to focus his attention on securing his political legacy through his far-sighted public infrastructure programme which will most likely be remembered as his greatest contribution to propelling Kenya towards prosperity.


PM RAILA ODINGA: He is perhaps the biggest winner from the naming of the six key suspects, now said to be "bound for The Hague". In one move, the ICC process has crippled the presidential ambitions of two key figures from the team which is set to oppose him in the 2012 presidential race. It is reasonable to assume that any political leaders who now have The Hague to worry about, are not likely to be very effective in helping organise the anti-Raila forces. Staying out of jail tends to be a fulltime occupation when faced with accusations of "crimes against humanity" before an international tribunal. And while the accused are thus engaged, their regional political rivals will be busy making inroads into their core support groups. In this context, Gideon Moi's recent 'takeover' of Kanu is particularly serendipitous - the long-anticipated return of the Moi dynasty to the centre of Rift Valley politics is now more plausible, with Ruto having so much on his plate. And in Central province, presidential hopefuls Martha Karua and Peter Kenneth now have a clear road along which to pursue their ambitions, with reputed frontrunner from that region, Uhuru Kenyatta, being otherwise engaged.

VP KALONZO MUSYOKA: Up to now, it has been argued that the proposed 'KKK' political alliance which brought together Kalonzo, Uhuru and Ruto, faced an intractable problem when it came to deciding which one of them would in due course run against Raila in the 2012 presidential race. But now, with the release of Ocampo's list of suspects, the decision seems to have been made in favour of Kalonzo. On the one hand, Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto will now - more than ever - be determined to keep Raila out of State House. And on the other hand, given the pace at which the ICC works, it is not likely that they will be free to engage in an intense and protracted grassroots political campaign anytime soon. The best they can do is to throw their weight behind their political ally, Kalonzo Musyoka, a man for whom the Ocampo list must come as an undisguised blessing, even though that is the last thing he would ever admit to.

The big news about Africa on much of the global print media, over the past week or so, has been a report on how hundreds f of women were assaulted and raped by rebel militias in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (Congo DRC) last June.

It is perhaps right and poetically fitting that these reports of DRC atrocities have been released at a time when prominent members of Kenya's political establishment are quaking in their boots at the prospect of the promised indictments and arrest warrants finally being issued by the ICC.

For if all that we have heard rumoured is true, then some of these seemingly polished and civic-minded men, have some personal experience of unleashing rabid militias on innocent men and women in unprotected villages or urban slums.

Thanks to these politicians, the days are long over when Kenyans could look with amazement at such atrocities as those which recently took place in the DRC, and ask, "What is wrong with those people?" We know now that we are in no position to stand in judgment over other African nations, in the matter of atrocities that arise when "tribal conflict" commences in earnest. We can no longer pretend that we are any different.

And that, I suppose, is why these ICC indictments - as and when they are finally handed down - should be viewed with rejoicing by the average Kenyan. They offer us the only opportunity we have to ensure that we never again have to experience anything like the post-election violence of 2007-08.

It's true that there will almost certainly be innocent people caught up in the ICC net. That can hardly be avoided when witnesses are reportedly being flown out with their entire families and further promised the opportunity to settle in the consoling suburbs of North America and Western Europe, after they have testified against the alleged masterminds of the post-election violence.

West Africans have been known to attempt foolhardy desert crossings to get to Europe via North Africa. Yet others are routinely drowned while trying to sail the Mediterranean Sea on some makeshift boat in the desperate search for economic opportunity in Europe.

So why would a Kenyan not make up elaborate atrocity stories directed against a person from a different tribe, if this would lead to permanent residence amidst those streets which are said to be payed with gold? This possibility of fictional atrocity stories is something which will bear watching when our fellows-citizens begin to give evidence against some prominent politicians who are even now having sleepless nights.

Still this is not your heavily compromised and deeply mistrusted Kenyan justice system we are talking about. It is the ICC, a world-class judicial operation. And I would venture to suggest that mere indictment by the ICC would be seen as proof of guilt by most who read about it. If the accused was to be subsequently released for lack of evidence, this would not take away the stain of perceived guilt.

In all mention of that person's name thereafter, the foreign press (in particular) would speak of "the Kenyan minister who was once indicted by the ICC for crimes against humanity..." That is hardly the kind of thing which any politician, however reckless, would want his grown-up children to read about in the papers; and every time he or his family travelled abroad, if an immigration official lingered over their passports, they would nervously wonder if perhaps that officer was trying to figure out where he read this name before, and why the mere reading of it made him so uneasy.

To have your name officially associated with crimes against humanity is definitely a punishment in itself. But there is always the chance that some of these Kenyan leaders will actually be found guilty.

That they were absurdly careless in those difficult days: that they got carried away with the heat and fury of the moment. And that they subsequently left behind the most obvious and unmistakable evidence of their involvement in the massacres and arson attacks of those desperate days.

And this takes us back to those hundreds of rape victims in the DRC. The reason why there will be no escape for the perpetrators of the post-election violence here is that this is not really just about Kenya. It is about sending a message to all African leaders.

And the message is that it is no longer possible to allow atrocities to be committed within your borders - or to sponsor such atrocities yourself for political reasons - and hope to get away with it.

The writer comments on topical issues.