Update-1: Nairobi — International Criminal Court prosecutor Louis Moreno-Ocampo has requested information on investigations and prosecutions in the 2008 post-election violence.

He has also asked for information on measures taken to ensure the safety of victims and witnesses.

A government team led by Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo promised to deliver the information by September.

Serious crimes

In an agreement signed last night, the parties said “Kenya will refer those responsible for the most serious crimes” to The Hague if there is no agreement in Parliament.

“Both Kenya and the ICC prosecutor agree that impunity is not an option, that to prevent new violence in 2012 it is necessary to prosecute those responsible for crimes committed during the post-election violence.”

According to the agreement signed by Mr Ocampo, Mr Kilonzo, Lands minister James Orengo and Attorney General Amos Wako, the ICC prosecutor confirmed that he had started a preliminary examination.

“We now have an important and binding working arrangement between the government of Kenya and the ICC to ensure impunity is punished. If they ask for any information we will provide it,” Mr Orengo told Saturday Nation on Friday night.

Mr Ocampo told the Kenyan team that crimes committed after the 2007 elections may fall in the ICC’s jurisdiction.

“The prosecutor and Kenya’s representatives agreed that should the authorities carry out genuine judicial proceedings against those most responsible, the prosecutor will have no ground to intervene,” the agreement reads in part.

Kenya and the International Criminal Court have agreed on a new deadline to set up a special tribunal to try the ringleaders of post-election violence. Kenyan ministers promised to establish the tribunal by July 2010 and in the meantime provide the ICC with the details of their investigations.

An ICC spokesman said ministers also promised to refer the case to the ICC if they failed to establish a tribunal.

About 1,500 people were killed in violence following the 2007 elections.

Chief mediator Kofi Annan had warned the Kenyan government he would hand over a list of suspects to the ICC if Nairobi failed to form the tribunal before the end of August 2009.

Annan, the former UN secretary-general, brokered a power-sharing deal last year to end the violence.

ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo told the BBC he was satisfied with the new agreement.

“They will do the case themselves or, if they don’t do that, they will refer the case to me,” he said.

Rioting erupted after President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of the December 2007 presidential poll, triggering claims of electoral fraud from the then opposition leader Raila Odinga.

The rivals signed a power-sharing deal in February 2008 to end to the violence and formed a coalition government – but not before 1,500 people died in clashes and another 300,000 fled their homes.

Also last month, Amnesty International accused the Kenyan government of having done nothing to end the impunity for “widespread and serious human rights violations committed by the police and security forces” after the election.

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