Dim hopes for Kenyas bid at the ASP

Dim hopes for Kenyas bid at the ASP

There seems to be no breakthrough for the Kenyan delegation at The Hague in Netherlands in its bid to pass its agenda on Rule 68 at the Assembly of State Parties bureau in its original text.

The delegation led by Foreign Affairs CS Amina Mohammed convened another meeting Tuesday morning to continue with negotiations on Kenya’s bid to have Rule 68 allowing use of recanted testimony not applicable in the case against Deputy President William Ruto.

Amina, Defense CS Raychelle Omamo, and Ambassadors Kamau Macharia and Rose Makena will represent the team at the ASP Bureau Working Group consisting of representatives from Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America.

Kenya’s proposal is now slightly different from what was presented last week.

The proposal now says that following amendments to the rules of procedure at the 12th ASP in 2013, the assembly should re-affirm that the rule on the use of recanted evidence should apply on situations commencing after November 2013, which would mean the Ruto-Sang case would not be affected.

But at the meeting, Italy proposed that the word re-affirm be replaced by “recall”, saying the assembly recalls the decision taken in 2013. This according to the Kenyan team is unacceptable.

Italy further proposed that the bureau should consider the matter and report back, another point of differentiation, as the proposal gives no timelines within which this should happen and postpones the immediacy in which Kenya seeks a decision, and with the forum ending on Wednesday Kenya sees this proposal as unfavourable.

Reports now indicate that European Union states have insisted on diluting by amending the Kenyan agenda text, with sources further stating that Kenya might abandon the push if EU persists and return home and await an African Union meeting slated for January to re-strategize.

Tags:

kenya ICC ASP Hague Deputy President Wiliam Ruto case joshua arap sang Foreign Affairs CS Amina Mohammed Rule 68

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