Kenya should set a tribunal to try Kenyans at the heart of last year's election violence. Former UN-chief Kofi Annan urges Nairobi to do so by August. If not, he will go to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

 
Annan has a sealed envelope with the names of 10 top suspects for the chaos that killed more than 1,300 people and displaced 300,000 in early 2008.
 
Under the terms of an inquiry into the crisis, Annan is to hand that envelope to the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) if Nairobi fails to establish a special local court.
 
"I'm in discussions with the two leaders and I've made it clear that if the tribunal is not established within a reasonable period, which I would say is up to the end of August, I will have no option other than to hand the envelope over with the names to the ICC," Annan told BBC radio.
 
Local justice
 
The names in Annan’s envelope are believed to include some senior politicians and businessmen, including cabinet members.
 
ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo has already started preliminary investigations into the violence, but Annan says local justice would still be better. "I think Kenya would be much better off with that trial taking place in their midst."
 
Kenya had promised to create a tribunal, but some legislators have blocked the local court in February out of self-interest, analysts say.
 
Kenya’s deadly violence took place in the wake of the disputed general elections. It sparked long-standing ethnic rivalries over access to land and other economic resources.
 
Truth, Reconciliation and Amnesty
 
The issue of justice for the post-election violence has strained the uneasy Kibaki-Odinga coalition. It is seen as a major test of Kenya's ability to end a culture of impunity.
 
In addition to the tribunal, parliament agreed in October to create a Truth, Justice & Reconciliation Commission (TJRC). Its main task is to investigate human rights abuses over the whole period between Kenya's independence in 1963 and February 2008.
 
Although there will be no amnesties for crimes under international law, the commission may offer limited pardons to some minor offenders in exchange for confessions and assistance.
 
What relationship the Truth Commission would have to a possible tribunal has not been specified.