The Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno Ocampo, is back in The Hague after a five day trip to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. He was there to meet with victims of the violence that swept the country following disputed presidential elections in 2007.

By Thijs Bouwknegt & Eric Beauchemin, Nairobi

In the space of four months, more than 1,300 people were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced. But after the dust settled, the Kenyan parliament voted down a bill to establish a national tribunal to prosecute those responsible for the killings, rapes and forced evictions that took place during the fighting.

Ocampo was keen to step in and as a signatory to the Rome Statute, Kenya accepts the ICC’s jurisdiction.
But the government chose not to send an official invitation to the court. At that point Ocampo took matters into his own hands and asked ICC judges for permission to start an investigation into possible crimes against humanity committed during the bloodshed.

In March of this year, the court granted his request and Ocampo immediately sent a team of investigators
to the East African country to find witnesses who could testify against their leaders.

The purpose of Ocampo’s visit to Nairobi last week was to explain what his people are doing and what he
can do for Kenya. While there, he also publicly pledged that by Christmas he will file charges against six people most responsible for the violence and try them in two cases. He was also there to hear victims’ concerns, he said, telling them that he is their “civil servant.”

Kenyans are now putting their hopes on the ICC prosecutor to ensure that all perpetrators are brought to
justice. But he is already warning them it is a challenge he will not be able to meet.

‘The Hague or Arusha?’
Ocampo had some difficult encounters while in Nairobi, in particular during a two and a half hour meeting
with 30 witnesses of the post-election violence. It was their fear that struck him most during his visit, he said. “They’re still living in fear. They’re afraid that the violence will happen again. But they have hopes too. They hope I can help them.”

On Sunday, he talked to some 30 people - including many young students - who had gathered at the Kenyan National Museum. Ocampo asked his favourite question: where they would like the trials to be held, Arusha, Tanzania or The Hague, in the Netherlands? ICC judges can also sit in Arusha, only an eight-hour bus drive from Nairobi. Almost everyone said The Hague because they fear their leaders still have too much influence in the region. But not everyone agrees. Jonathan has just finished high school
and wants to become an architect. He thinks that the trials should be held in Africa. “It’s time,” he says, that “Africans try their own human rights abusers.”

Slums
Ocampo’s next stop was in Maathare - one of Nairobi’s most notorious slums, and one of the first areas where the post-election violence broke out. He was scheduled to meet residents at a small gathering in one of Maathare’s bigger buildings. Because of security concerns, his visit wasn’t announced in advance but as soon as he arrived people noticed him standing on the balcony of the four-storey building and stood outside staring at him.

The meeting started with a short video about Eric Kioko, a DJ who lost his left arm during the violence when he tried to protect a woman who was being raped by 17 men. After a little girl read out a personal letter to the prosecutor, he was taken to the balcony from where he was shown some specific spots where some of the violence took place.

As he was leaving the building, a crowd which had gathered in front of the building started chanting “Ocampo! Ocampo! Ocampo!” as if a Hollywood movie star were in their midst. The prosecutor rolled down his window, smiled and waved them goodbye. “It was a good experience,” he said.
Restore peace

“Restore peace,” is written on one of the fragile walls in the small streets of Kibera. Kibera is another Nairobi slum - the biggest in Africa and the locus of much of the post-election violence. But it wasn’t on Ocampo’s itinerary because Kenyan authorities thought it would be too dangerous for him to visit. Nor can he go to the Rift Valley, where the violence was at its worst. But Ocampo hasn’t forgotten those areas. “I trust Kenyan journalists to be my intermediaries,” he said.

And the residents of Kibera - like so many Kenyans - are hoping they can trust Ocampo.
Jane Wanjiru Wangari is an old woman whose house was burned to the ground during the fighting. She now lives in a makeshift shack, made of metal sheeting. She wants peace, she says. But that’s not all.

“I want justice to be done. The people who did this should be punished. I want Ocampo to come visit us and make sure that the evidence we give him is used to ensure that rule of law is respected here. I believe the ICC will accomplish something as long as it doesn’t involve the Kenyan government in the investigation.”

Inside her small house, she has a calendar covered with pictures of Ocampo. “It’s The Hague,” it reads. “2010: the year to end impunity.”

Peter Wario Mwamgi lost his brother during the violence. “It was simply because he was a Kikuyu,” Peter says. His brother was in the streets when he was attacked by a mob of 30 men using crude weapons to bash his head and the rest of his body. Peter found him later in the mortuary.

The police said that they would start an investigation but it never happened. Peter doesn’t believe Kenya will ever punish the culprits and has pinned his hopes on the ICC. “If there is no justice,” he says, “the violence will return.”

Stories like this are common. Throughout Kibera, the police took reports after the violence but nothing happened. The government promised compensation but only a very few people have received anything.

Ocampo sympathised with their plight, but stressed that these issues fall outside his mandate. “We do our case but that is not the only point on the agenda. The Kenyan citizen has to do more for the victims. The people who lost their house don’t need to wait for a court decision to be assisted,” he said. “It’s time to do it now.”

High expectations
The Argentine prosecutor has become a superstar in a country where trust in government is almost non-existent. Kenyans are counting on Ocampo to bring their leaders to The Hague. “Let them not return,” says Mozes, a local journalist.

But Ocampo has repeatedly said that people’s expectations are too high. He will only prosecute a few big fish and can only protect the witnesses he needs for his trials. “I think we can help Kenya create justice, end impunity, and organize peaceful elections in 2012. I think we can achieve that.” But, he’s quick to warn, “you never do things perfectly. In this case, people will be disappointed. They will always expect more, but they have to understand they have to do more themselves.”

And he knows that, most Kenyans, expect much more from the ICC. They know it’s important to nab the “big men” who ordered the violence, but they want to see those who committed the crimes punished too. They also want more simple things: to return to their homes, find work and live in peace.

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