By Kenfrey Kiberenge
Victims of the post-election violence thought they had seen the worst with the Government dragging its feet to prosecute suspects and individuals threatening their lives.
But now, they have to face a nightmare of two professors miles away, in America, who are out to spoil the party for them.
The driving force behind Prof Max Hilaire and Prof William Cohn remains a matter of speculations, with suggestions that they could be acting for high profile suspects of the violence that left 1,333 people dead and 650,000 homeless.
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But one thing is certain; their actions will spoil the party for the victims of 2008 post election violence. The duo filed an application on Thursday seeking suspension of prayers by ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo for the court to take up Kenya’s case for at least 30 more days, so that they can raise their arguments.
Their argument is Kenya’s case was, in legal terms, “overstretched” or “exaggerated” and does not meet ICC’s threshold for crimes against humanity. They say bringing the issue before the trial chamber was unnecessary.
“We want to know why the case should go to The Hague since Kenya is not a failed State and efforts have already been made by the President and the Prime Minister to set up a local tribunal,” their suit reads in part.
They also demand to know of “efforts to set up a local tribunal and actions of the President and the Prime Minister on the complementarity principle.”
The Americans want the ICC pre-trial judges to determine if the Kenyan situation qualifies as a “crime against humanity” or a “matter of civil unrest”. Here are their profiles:
Prof. Max Hilaire
He has being critical of the UN and its functions, especially those touching on the powerful Security Council. In his 2005 book, United Nations law and the Security Council, Hilaire accuses the UN body of using vague criteria to determine areas that constitute threats to international security.
“Today what constitutes a threat to international peace and security is whatever situation the Security Council so determines. There are no set criteria by which the Security Council decides which situations are international or domestic,” says Hilaire.
He also accuses the council of overstepping its mandate in some instances.
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“The decisions of the UN Security Council to characterise the situations in northern Iraq, Haiti and Somalia as threats to international peace and security have led to criticism that the security council is overstepping its bound and may be in violation of the charter.”
He is touted as a specialist in international law. He is currently an Associate Professor and Chairperson of the Department of political science and director of the Political Leadership Institute at Morgan State University, Maryland.
He holds a B.A. in Political Science from Morgan State University, and MA, M Phil, and PhD degrees from Columbia University. He is a two-time Fulbright Scholar (Nigeria and Czech Republic), and has lectured extensively in numerous countries in Africa, Europe and Latin America under the State Department Speakers Programme.
He has been a consultant for the Department of State, United States Agency for International Development, The Africa Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University in Washington and various international organizations.
He specialises in International Humanitarian Law, United States Foreign Relations Law, Public International Law, United Nations Law, and International Relations Theory.
Hilaire has also authored three books: International Law
source.standard.ke
