Former ICC Chief Prosecutor talks of his legacy

BY KIPCHUMBA KEMEI

Hague: Former International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Moreno Ocampo says lack of proper investigations have undermined the court ability to secure convictions for suspects on human rights abuses.

The court, he said need to recruit investigators, claiming that governments have failed it because of lack of cooperation.

And he believes that indictments against President Uhuru Kenyatta, his deputy William Ruto and radio journalist Joshua Sang deterred violence before and after the last year General Election.

He said violence would have erupted in the country if the court did not take action against the perpetrators of the 2007-2008 General Election.

Speaking during a BBC TV talk show, Hard Talk at the weekend, he added that majority of Kenyans still believe that had the three not been indicted, violence of a bigger magnitude would have engulfed the country.

"Everyone was worried about eruption of another violence but the cases that were still at the ICC prevented warlords and tribal chiefs from igniting it. They were cautious," he told Stephen Sackur, the anchor.

The political pact between the president and his deputy, he added also deterred violence, saying their communities have for many years differed over land ownership among other resources that always turn violent before and after general elections.

"When the two suspects decided to work together, tribal tensions went down," he said and denied that ICC was targeting African leaders and also geo politics was interfering with the court work.

Saying more states need to join ICC to deter or stem tribal and sectarian violence, he further denied that the UN Security Council was blocking the court from investigating serious human crimes in the Middle East, Colombia and Iraq where the US and other permanent members have vested interests.

Ocampo who was the court chief prosecutor from 2003 to 2012, said the court has only managed to secure two convictions, adding that in many ways it has deterred genocide and other serious violence in the 122 member states.

"Despite short comings, the work I did in the ten years I was the prosecutor was impressive," he said and added that the court lacked jurisdiction in investigating violence in Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and non member states.