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The president of Uganda,Yoweri Museveni, praised Kenya’s newly elected fourth president Uhuru Kenyatta. Kenyatta also happens to be facing an international trial for crimes against humanity. During a congratulatory speech on Tuesday, April 09, 2013, Museveni praised Kenyan voters for not buying into the ICC’s “blackmail,” stating:
I want to salute the Kenyan voters on…the rejection of the blackmail by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and those who seek to abuse this institution for their own agenda…
It is not only Kenyatta who is facing a trial in the Hauge-based ICC – Kenyatta’s vice president is charged with the same crime as well. Both newly elected leaders deny the charges of crimes against humanity, but have said they will cooperate with the ICC. Their charges stem from “their alleged roles in orchestrating ethnic killings and widespread violence that followed [the] 2007 polls.” Over 1,000 people were murdered, and hundreds of thousands more were forced to flee. Kenyatta is further accused of organizing a campaign of violence against ethnic group members who were seen as being supporters of Odinga and not Kibaki in the 2007 election.
Museveni went further to voice his opinion of what he believes is really behind the impending ICC trial:
However the usual opiniated and arrogant actors using their careless and shallow analysis have now distorted the purpose of that institution. They are now using it to install leaders of their choice in Africa and eliminate the ones they do not like.
Is it possible that the ICC attempted to exert influence on the voters in Kenya by bringing these charges and moving forward with a trial? Is it far-fetched to believe that certain organizations with power use their power to influence other nations to get what they want or need? Should those facing charges such as crimes against humanity be allowed to run for official governmental positions?
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