Ex-envoy accuses US, Britain of cowardice

By  ALPHONCE SHIUNDU

[email protected]

Kenya: Former US Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer turned to Twitter, to express her displeasure at the failure by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to defer Kenyan’s cases before the ICC.

Ms Frazer claimed that the crimes against humanity cases facing President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto were “political”, and “the evidence is hearsay.”

She faulted the investigations carried out by the ICC sleuths and said the leaders should have sought for dismissal of the cases instead of deferral.

“I don’t think they should ask for deferral. The cases should be dismissed. ICC is political, (it’s) not about justice or victims,” Frazer tweeted.

The diplomat also accused the eight countries – Argentina, Australia, France, Guatemala, Luxembourg, Republic of Korea, United Kingdom, and United States — of “cowardice”. She ended that tweet by telling the African countries that they should not depend on the UNSC to solve their problems.

“UNSC fails to take responsibility for international security. Eight abstentions is a sign of cowardice. Africa’s fate is in your own hands,” she twitted on her account @JendayiFrazer.

Frazer, who served in the Bush administration and in the early years of the Obama administration, accused the US of “hypocrisy” and France of “double standards”.

“… Look at France’s role using ICC in Ivory Coast, DRC, etc…” she said.

One of her followers asked her what she thought about the rejection of the bid to defer the cases for a year, now that an opinion poll by Ipsos-Synovate had shown that two in every three Kenyans want President Kenyatta to go to The Hague.

“What opinion polls…who conducted, what was asked, and how many polled? The people spoke when they voted him into office,” she shot back.

Others sought to know what she thought about the fate of the victims, if the cases are dismissed as Frazer suggested.

“Unfortunately the ICC ensured that justice for victims was made difficult because it didn’t carry out real investigations,” said Frazer.

She predicted that the Kenyan cases will be thrown out, the same way those against former Police Commissioner Hussein Ali, former Cabinet Minister Henry Kosgey and former Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura had been dismissed. “The cases are entirely political. That is why the others have been thrown out as will these cases,” Frazer noted.