Untitled Document
Officials in the Kenyan government reacted harshly today to the news that the
US will suspend military aid until Nairobi decides to sign the bilateral agreement
guaranteeing immunity for US citizens - civilian and military - before the International
Criminal Court (ICC), in case they are charged with crimes against humanity, war
crimes or genocide. The main Kenyan daily ‘Daily Nation’, opened today’s
edition a long article entitled, ”Kenyans tell Americans enough of This
Blackmail”.
The article presents the reactions of representatives, ministers religious leaders
to an article from the ‘Sunday Nation’ revealing that Washington has
already suspended military aid, which will remain frozen until Nairobi signs the
aforementioned bilateral accord. The US has already obtained such agreements using
analogous tactics from tens of countries around the world.
The US, in fact, left behind a group of Kenyan officers ready to leave for
a training course in the US while they have threatened to cancel the latest
military aid package and joint training exercises. “We have to uphold
our principles and resist the blackmail from the Americans,” said the
minister of the interior Newton Kulundu. “They can keep their dollars
and we our dignity.
Americans are not the only ones capable of training our military, perhaps it’s
time we started looking elsewhere, the EU, South Africa, China or even Japan,”
said parliamentary representative Muite. The cabinet minister Kulundu then noted
cases of violence committed by US military personnel against prisoners in their
custody, in Iraq or in Afghanistan or in Guantanamo. “Precisely because
America is a democracy it should be committed to follow international rules
and abstain from applying two weights and two measurements”.
The Kenyan Anglican Church also exhorted the government to resist pressure
from the US. “It’s only a question of ethics and if someone has
made a mistake it is right that they be handed over to the organisms entrusted
to judge their behavior,” said archbishop Benjamin Nimbi. The reaction
of the local Council of Imams, Sheikh Mohammed Dor, according to whom the decision
to suspend military aid unless Kenya signed the immunity agreements “is
an excellent example of the type of democracy that Washington intends to export
around the world”. “The US government continues to provoke and threaten
the weakest governments while defending its own interests or those of its soldiers.
For this reason we strongly uphold the Kenyan leadership asking it not to fold
under pressure”. “In any case, after all, US military aid is not
so important; we have far more urgent problems tied to AIDS and the reduction
of poverty. We can do without the military support,” said Khelef Khailfa,
head of the National Commission for Human Rights.
But Washington’s behavior seems not to have pleased the US Ford automotive
group in Kenya - Ford Kenya - that fears the ‘blackmail’ over the
ICC risks jeopardizing the relationship between the 2 countries. Kenya ratified
the Treaty of Rome last March becoming the 98th government to adhere to the
ICC, the world court with jurisdiction on violations of humanitarian rights
in countries unable or unwilling to refute persecuting such crimes.
The US represents one of the main obstacles to the ICC, which refuses to recognize
it, while trying with every means at their disposal to dissuade (and not just
in the military context) adhering especially in terms of the poorest countries.
Up to now, the US has convinced 60 or so governments to sign bilateral agreements
ensuring the ICC has no jurisdiction over US citizens.
