Luis Moreno-Ocampo kept his promise of presenting Kenya’s case at The Hague.

The International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor’s message soon after that was clear: "The world is watching Kenya and this court (ICC). We have a challenge and we cannot fail. We will not fail." Mr Moreno-Ocampo made the presentation at 1.31pm Kenyan time and, thereafter, held a press briefing at The Hague to give an overview of his presentation.

The event was attended by international media and Kenyan officials, including the Deputy Public Prosecutor Keriako Tobiko.

Journalists from Nairobi listened to Ocampo’s media address through a video link at the United Nations headquarters in Gigiri, Nairobi.

According to his reports about 1,220 people were killed, 3,300 injured, more than 300,000 displaced and thousands of deaths went unreported.

He avers that the alleged crimes "were widespread and systematic".

His message to the victims was: "We will be judges for them and we will work together to avoid repetition of the crimes. It is not a foreign court or foreign prosecutor; What we are watching today is the leader (sic) of Kenya working to ensure justice to the victims of the violence and ensure no violence happens in Kenya."

Thursday marked the beginning of seeking justice for the victims of the violence after the Government failed to persuade Parliament to set up a local special tribunal. Two attempts to set up mechanisms for a local tribunal were frustrated by hostile MPs.

It will now be upon the judges to give Moreno-Ocampo the green light to conduct his own investigations. And should the judges agree that his case is solid, then the prosecutor is expected in the country as early as January next year. The verdict of the judges is expected before year-end.

He said: "If the judges authorise investigations we are ready to work. We are already analysing boxes and documents from the Waki report."

Though he commended the Waki team and others for their reports, he said that no list of suspects is binding on him and that he would conduct independent investigations.

"No list of suspects is binding on me. I will collect evidence and decide who will face justice," he said.

Moreno-Ocampo pointed out that he received more than 43 presentations of the post-poll violence that shook the country in 2007/08 and yesterday presented 10 reports to the judges on the alleged crimes.

Perhaps convinced that he would be authorised to commence investigations on the Kenyan case, the prosecutor said the victims should know that they are ‘not alone’ in the quest for justice.

"Nyanza, Nairobi, Rift Valley, Coast, Western and Central provinces must know they are not alone… that they don’t need to resort to violence to solve problems. The Kikuyus, the Luos, the Maasais and all the others must feel they are part of the bigger global community," he said. "Kenya is a great country and it is an opportunity to build Kenya on solid foundations."

Victims of the violence, he said now have 30 days to submit to the judges their views and opinion of the violence, adding Kenya would be an example on how to protect the violence victims.

Without being specific, Moreno-Ocampo said in the course of 2010 he would present the names of suspects to the court and possibly issue warrants of arrests.

In his 43-minute address, which included fielding questions from journalists from both Nairobi and The Hague, the prosecutor said, while in Kenya he would be holding public meetings to get the general overview of the situation and closed-door meetings to listen to the witnesses.

"I will present to the judges a limited number of cases and a limited number of suspects. The range is one to five," he said.

With Thursday’s move, several top personalities, some of whom were mentioned in various reports will not be spending peaceful nights. The Waki list had five ministers.

Moreno-Ocampo said he is taking seriously reports that witnesses are being threatened, assuring that the court would protect them at all costs.

"It is a big concern for my office," he noted. "We discussed this with Internal Security Minister George Saitoti, while I was in Nairobi, on how to deal with the threats. Witness protection is our responsibility and the court will protect the witnesses. We rely on our system."

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