More than a year after Kenya's post-election trauma, few have been punished for the violence that killed around 1,300 people, uprooted more than a quarter of a million and crippled the economy.

Kenya's coalition government is struggling to create a special local tribunal to try perpetrators. If it fails, the International Criminal Court has vowed to put them on trial.

The issue is dominating Kenyan politics, weighing on local markets, and being closely watched by the outside world.

What is Kenya doing?
President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga -- who came together in a coalition to end the bloodshed in the early months of 2008 -- have been trying to push a local tribunal through parliament. But legislators have rejected their first attempt, for a mixture of motives: some are scared, others fear a whitewash unless the ICC gets involved.

Under pressure from abroad and at home, the pair are trying again, with Cabinet studying proposals for a special tribunal into post-election violence.

The plans, to modify the Constitution then create a court, would probably need parliamentary approval, though it is not clear how Kibaki and Odinga plan to overturn previous opposition. Some are calling for the court to be set up by special decree, bypassing the legislature.

What is the ICC doing?
ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo is gathering preliminary information on the Kenyan case, and has said he will take over if Nairobi does not set up a local court.

Crisis mediator Kofi Annan has sent the ICC investigator a list of 10 names of suspected chief perpetrators of the violence. That has both heightened pressure on Kenya to establish a court, and furnished Moreno-Ocampo with leads.

The various parties have made different statements on the timeline involved, but it seems clear that Kenya has until September of this year to come up with a concrete, approved plan, then until mid-2010 to actually set up the court.

Why does it matter?
Often forgotten in the political debate are the victims: the families of the bereaved, those still carrying wounds, and the refugees. There is deep resentment among Kenya's 35 million people at a crisis perceived to have been caused by political leaders -- whipping up supporters along tribal lines -- and the lack of accountability afterwards.

Since the election crisis exposed Kenya's instability, local markets have become susceptible to the political mood. Traders in the shilling currency are eyeing developments closely. Fragile stocks , which lost nearly a third of their value last year due to the local crisis and global downturn crisis, are also affected by any sign of renewed instability.

Tourists were scared away last year, and revenues remain down. In the corporate world, East African CEOs are more concerned about political instability than even the global panorama, a survey showed.

Kibaki and Odinga were deadly enemies during the post-election crisis, with then opposition leader Odinga accusing the president of stealing the vote through fraud. Since they came together in a coalition, their respective factions have been endlessly squabbling over petty matters like protocol and important matters of national policy. So the court controversy has put a further strain on them.

Many fear more violence at the next election, scheduled for 2012, if those behind last year's trouble get away free.

Who are the guilty parties?
Nairobi political and business sources say that the 10 names in the envelope now in ICC prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo's hands include at least two sitting ministers: one from Kibaki's side, the other from Odinga's.

Many are angry at Kibaki for failing to rein in his security forces during the crisis. Police shot dead hundreds of protesters at the height of the troubles. There is also criticism of Odinga for calling his opposition supporters out onto the streets and therefore fanning the crisis.

Prior to the election, politicians openly incited Kenyans along tribal lines, particularly between Kibaki's Kikuyu group -- Kenya's largest ethnic community -- and the Luos, Luhyas and Kalenjins who largely backed the opposition.

Most of the killings were in poor areas of Kenya: the slums of Nairobi and Kisumu, and rural areas of the Rift Valley. Images of gangs wielding clubs, machetes and bows-and-arrows shocked the world. Houses, and in one incident a church full of refugees, were set ablaze.

Kenyans are sceptical of their own authorities' ability to bring the guilty to justice. A procession of past inquiries into multi-million-dollar corruption scandals, land-grabbing, and other incidents of election violence, have all led to little other than huge bills for the taxpayer.

Source: Reuters