The international criminal court’s agenda on justice and reconciliation: Response to the 2007/8 post-election violence in kenya

In the endeavour to pursue justice in the post-conflict period, the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) operations in Africa have met with significant challenges. While it has been acknowledged in some quarters that the ICC can excel in curbing the problems of violence stemming from a culture of impunity, the court has attracted immense and tremendous controversy, especially because of its propensity for prolonging conflict and undermining peace deals and reconciliation processes that have proved imperative in a society emerging from a period of gross human rights violations. Kenya, in particular, is currently struggling with international criminal cases emanating from the violence that rocked the country following the 2007 general election. This violence followed the announcement of the results of the presidential election in Kenya on 30 December 2007 which sparked severe political violence across the country. The Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) had declared President Mwai Kibaki of the Party of National Unity (PNU) the winner against Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). Two months of civil unrest resulted in the deaths of 1,333 people and over 650,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), making it the deadliest ethno-political unrest since the introduction of multiparty politics in 1991 (Dagne, 2008).