Kenya and the International Criminal Court have agreed on a new deadline to set up a special tribunal to try the ringleaders of wide-spread violence after the 2007 Presidential elections, BBC online reports Saturday.
Kenyan ministers promised to establish the tribunal by July 2010 and in the meantime provide the ICC with the details of their investigations. Ministers also promised to refer the case to the ICC if they failed to establish a tribunal.
Chief mediator Kofi Annan had warned the Kenyan government he would hand over a list of suspects to the ICC if Nairobi failed to form the tribunal before the end of August 2009.
With the next elections due in 2012, there is a danger that none of the problems that triggered last years violence will have been dealt with by the time the politicians are once again out campaigning.
Rioting erupted after President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of the December 2007 presidential poll, triggering claims of electoral fraud from the then opposition leader Raila Odinga.
The rivals signed a power-sharing deal in February 2008 to end to the violence and formed a coalition government – but not before 1.500 people died in clashes and another 300.000 fled their homes.
