Turkana Leaders Want 25% of Oil Revenues Retained In The Area

International Court To Decide Future Of Kenyan President Trial

------------

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta attends an Extraordinary Summit of Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Heads of State during the African Union summit in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, January 31, 2014. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri

  

Email

Facebook 5

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The fate of the politically fraught trial of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta could be decided on Wednesday, when prosecutors at the International Criminal Court plead for more time.

Kenyatta's lawyers hope the case will be thrown out, putting an end to a trial that has driven a wedge between African countries - which criticise the ICC for targeting their continent - and the court's Western backers.

The Kenyatta trial is crucial to the ICC, which has secured only one conviction and suffered a string of collapsed cases since it was set up 11 years ago. Kenya says the court risks destabilising east Africa if it presses on with the charges.

Western countries, while keen to back the ICC, are also anxious to maintain relations with Kenya, seen as a key ally in the battle against militant Islamism in neighbouring Somalia.

Kenyatta is charged with crimes against humanity during the violence that swept Kenya six years ago, when 1,200 died and thousands were driven from their homes. He denies the charges.

ICC prosecutors say he orchestrated the clashes, but their case has been weakened by the withdrawal of a string of witnesses since charges were first brought four years ago.

The trial had been due to start on Wednesday, but was postponed for a fourth time last month when prosecutors said another witness had withdrawn, and requested more time to gather evidence.

Prosecutors say their witnesses have been blackmailed or intimidated into withdrawing.

In a January 31 court filing, prosecutors said a "climate of fear" had weakened their case against Kenyatta, and said judges should rule that Kenya was in breach of its obligation to help the court's investigators.

LAST-DITCH ATTEMPT

"Several individuals with information relevant to the case refused to agree to be included on the prosecution's witness list due to fears that they or their family members would be targeted," prosecutors said in the filing.

The case has grown only more controversial throughout Africa since Kenyatta, the son of his country's founder, won a presidential election last year on a joint ticket with William Ruto, his deputy, who is on trial on similar but separate charges.

Following his victory, Kenyatta used his position as leader of East Africa's economic powerhouse to rally African Union allies in a diplomatic push to have the United Nations Security Council defer the case against him.

Although that bid was unsuccessful, the ICC's 122 member states did agree to change court rules to make it easier for heads of state facing charges to give evidence by video link.

Prosecutors say authorities have obstructed attempts to interview police officers, and have given investigators only limited access to phone records crucial to building their case.

"Kenyatta's statements in which he accused the court of being 'the toy of declining imperial powers' engaged in 'bias and race-hunting' and the (Kenyan government's) multi-faceted campaign to derail the ICC process on the diplomatic front suggest a lack of willingness to co-operate," they wrote.

But Kenyatta's lawyers dismissed the prosecution request for extra time, labelling it a "last-ditch attempt ... to obtain fresh evidence in a failed case," and said judges should throw out the charges against their client.

(Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

2 Kenya cops due in court for abduction of rebels - Wandtv.com, NewsCenter17, StormCenter17, Central Illinois News-

By TOM ODULA

Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - Two Kenyan police officers will be charged in court with the kidnapping of two officials of the Ethiopian rebel group, the Ogaden National Liberation Front, a Kenyan official said Monday.

Nairobi Criminal Investigations chief Nicholas Kamwende said witnesses identified the two Kenyan officers as having allegedly abducted of Sulub Abdi Ahmed and Ali Ahmed Hussein on Jan. 26 outside a restaurant in the capital, Nairobi.

The two police officers were brought to court on Monday but the reading of their charges was postponed until Thursday.

Court documents show that Kenyan police believe that after their abduction Ahmed and Hussein were taken to Ethiopia. The rebels want an independent state for Ethiopia's Ogaden region, which is mostly inhabited by ethnic Somalis.

Ahmed and Hussein were part of Ogaden rebel team in Kenya for negotiations with the Ethiopian government, said Abdi Rahman Mahdi, the chief negotiator for rebels told AP from London in a telephone interview.

Mahdi said on the day they were abducted, Ahmed, a negotiator, and Hussein, a member of the negotiation team's secretariat, were invited for lunch by an unknown person.

When the two walked out of the restaurant after lunch, six men came out of two cars and attempted to grab them but they resisted causing a melee, Mahdi said reconstructing event from witnesses and accounts given to him by the Kenya police.

Mahdi said Ahmed and Hussein were subdued when one of the abductors pulled out a police identification card and shouted for help from the crowd gathering around to see the commotion claiming that he was arresting two terrorists "who were planning to bomb the country."

He said with help from some people from the crowd the abductors forced Ahmed and Hussein into the cars using blows and kicks. Mahdi said the two were driven to Moyale, at the Kenyan-Ethiopia border where they were picked up by helicopters

"We fear for their lives and their well-being," he said. Mahdi said he did not think the Kenyan government knew about the abduction and claimed it was solely the work of the Ethiopian military commander in charge of Eastern Command under which the Ogaden region falls.

Shimelis Kemal, an Ethiopian government spokesman, said he has no information about the alleged kidnapping of Ogaden officials in Nairobi.

Mahdi said without the unconditional release of the two rebel members negotiations with Ethiopia will not resume and Kenya will no longer be safe as a venue to hold the talks. He said Kenya has been working to revive the talks.

"If they're not returned safely it will be very hard for us to face another round of talks with Ethiopia let alone coming to Kenya," he said.

Negotiation between the Ethiopian government and Ogaden rebels broke down in Oct 2012 after the Ethiopian government side walked out of the talks. Mahdi claimed the Ethiopian government made demands for the talks to begin which the rebels refused because both parties had agreed there should be no pre-conditions for the talks to be held.

The Ogaden rebels are blamed for the 2007 attack on a Chinese-run oil field in the region in which scores died.

____

Associated Press Writer Elias Meseret contributed to this report from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

▶ Kenyans Flee Moyale, Seek Refuge In Ethiopia -

▶ Kenyans Flee Moyale, Seek Refuge In Ethiopia - YouTube: ""

'via Blog this'

Kenyan police arrest 33 Ethiopians in border town - Globaltimes.cn

E-mail   Print

Kenyan authorities on Tuesday arrested 33 Ethiopian aliens in the border town of Moyale in the northern part of the East African nation.

Marsabit County Commissioner Isaiah Nakoru said the aliens were arrested by police officers on patrols during an operation to flush out militias following recent inter-ethnic clashes in the region.

"The suspects were on their way to Nairobi via Marsabit when the police officers on patrol intercepted them in the border areas, " Nakoru said on Tuesday.

He said the aliens in their early 20s and 30s were intercepted in Arosa area with no valid documents to cross over to the Kenyan side.

Nakoru said the security agents have increased surveillance along the Ethiopia-Kenya border following recent clashes that saw several people killed and dozens of others injured.

Nakoru warned the brokers aiding the aliens to cross over to the country that their days a numbered. He said senior businessmen were behind the cartels where they aid aliens and criminals to sneak into the country.

"We have deployed police and Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) in Moyale who still continue to patrol the areas until we eliminate militias and other crimes in the area," said Nakoru.

The commissioner said more than 100 aliens cross through the vast region in a week through Nairobi to South Africa in search of employment and other opportunities.

The government is worried over the mass exodus of the aliens from Ethiopia into the country to connect to South Africa where they are promised greener pasture for employment.

"I am warning the brokers that there days are number because we shall not sit back and watch selfish people engage in unlawful business to enrich themselves," said Nakoru

He directed security committees to strengthen their intelligence in order to curb human smuggling and any other unlawful business in the area.

On Dec. 10, the police in Nairobi arrested over 70 Ethiopians during the security operation conducted in Nairobi's residential estates.

The 71 men and women told police they were headed for South Africa in search of employment. Divisional police commander, Barasa Wabomba said they also arrested a man who was hosting the aliens.

Police said they arrested 58 of them earlier on Dec. 9 and 13 on the day before. The suspects were in a house when police stormed and it has been difficult for police to handle them because they neither speak English nor Swahili. It is not the first time that such suspects on transit are arrested.

Tens of Ethiopians are annually arrested in Kenya while on transit. It is not clear how they manage to navigate through various police roadblocks.

Death toll from Nairobi bus blast rises to six: Kenyan police - Indian Express

It was the fourth attack during a week in which a total of 15 people have died since Tuesday. (Reuters)

RELATED

• Al Qaeda strikes fear into Iraq's govt-backed Sunni militia
• Bill Clinton sought Nawaz Sharif's help to avert Qaeda attack: Document
• Al-Qaeda threat has become 'hydra-headed': US

TOP STORIES

• Govt's Lokpal Bill aimed at getting Rahul credit, sad that Hazare is supporting, says Arvind Kejriwal
• A year later, retracing the death of Dec 16 gangrape victim that continues to touch lives
• Modi flags off 'Run for Unity' marathon, appeals not to view event politically
• Meet Kejriwal's friends, who were behind success of Aam Aadmi Party
• Gay sex verdict: Rajnath Singh backs SC, says BJP cannot justify unnatural acts

Kenyan police were on Sunday investigating an explosion in a Nairobi bus the day before that killed six people and wounded 30 others, the latest in a string of unclaimed attacks as the country marks 50 years of independence.

The death toll from the blast rose to six on Saturday after two injured people died from their wounds overnight, police said.

Nairobi police chief Benson Kibue said a suspect was being questioned over the attack on the 32-seat vehicle on Saturday, which came from the Eastleigh neighbourhood, dubbed "Little Mogadishu" because it is mainly populated by Somali immigrants and Kenyans of Somali origin.

"We lost two of the victims in hospital where about 30 others are still admitted," Kibue said. "We now have six people dead out of that incident."

Police were trying to determine whether the powerful explosion was caused by a grenade or an improvised explosive device and whether it was placed in the bus, carried by a passenger or flung from outside. The blast hit several cars near the bus, killing at least one of the motorists, according to witnesses.

"We have one suspect who was arrested soon after the incident. He is assisting us in the investigations," Kibue said.

On Sunday, the situation was calm in Eastleigh after police on late Saturday dispersed some rioters in the street where the blast took place. Police forces were not particularly visible in the area, nor in the rest of the Kenyan capital.

It was the fourth attack during a week in which Kenya marked its 50th anniversary of independence from Britain, leaving a total of 15 people dead since Tuesday.

No links have as yet been established between the attacks, none of which has been claimed by any group.

Suspicion for some of them, though, has focused on Kenya's two-year military intervention in neighbouring Somalia to oust Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents.

A Jamhuri To Remember: Flag Hoisted, Fireworks Just Like 1963 (+playlist)