KENYA: Top official denies role in 2007 election violence

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REPORTING FROM JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA -- In recent weeks, Kenyans have confronted an unthinkable scenario: members of the notorious Mungiki crime gang, meeting with senior government members at State House, the presidential residence, to plan violence against political opponents.

On Thursday at The Hague, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, son of Jomo Kenyatta, the country’s founding president, denied International Criminal Court charges that he met gangsters at State House or was involved in sending them to commit violence after the disputed 2007 election.

Kenyatta, charged with crimes against humanity, told the court in a pretrial hearing that he had no links with Mungiki figures and was not a presidential candidate in 2007. He did not know of any militias acting for President Mwai Kibaki’s Party of National Unity. The hearing will determine whether the prosecution will go ahead.

‘I was not aware of any pro-PNU Mungiki or any other youth group formed to support Kibaki. I did not form any group or provide any logistical support in form of accommodation, transport or weapons for Mungiki or any other pro-PNU youth group,’ Kenyatta said Thursday.

The prosecution also accuses Kenyatta of buying machetes for use in the violence.

About 1,500 people were killed when ethnic violence broke out after the 2007 vote. The prosecution contends the violence was planned.

According to prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Kenyatta, then-Police Commissioner Hussein Ali and the head of the civil service, Francis Muthaura, were involved. Three supporters of Kibaki’s rival, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, have also been accused of fomenting violence.

Kibaki has denied the meetings took place at State House, saying in a statement: “The reports are reckless, baseless and untrue.”

The prosecution argues that police stood by while members of the Mungiki gang attacked supporters of Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement. The gang was paid millions of Kenyan shillings and promised police protection, but the prosecution says leading Mungiki figures were later killed to cover up the crime.

After the violence a unity government was brokered by the African Union, with Kibaki retaining the presidency and Odinga becoming prime minister.

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