ICC prosecutor to request Kenya investigation

By David Clarke

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor will request an investigation into suspected crimes against humanity committed during Kenya's post-election violence in 2008.

The decision by Luis Moreno-Ocampo announced during a visit to Kenya on Thursday is the start of a process that could end with influential cabinet ministers from the east African country facing The Hague court.

Moreno-Ocampo met President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga and the prosecutor's statement means the Kenyan leaders decided against referring the case themselves to the Hague court.

Moreno-Ocampo told a news conference he would ask ICC pre-trial judges in December to let him start an investigation, the route he has to follow if a government chooses not to refer suspected crimes committed in its country to the court.

Ethnic clashes after a disputed presidential election killed at least 1,300 people and uprooted more than 300,000, shattering Kenya's image as a stable, regional economic powerhouse.

"I consider the crimes committed in Kenya were crimes against humanity, therefore the gravity is there. So therefore I should proceed," Moreno-Ocampo told a joint news conference with Kibaki and Odinga in the capital Nairobi.

The 2002 Rome Treaty established the ICC, the world's first permanent court set up to try individuals for genocide, war crimes and other major human rights violations.

Kenya had promised to deal with the masterminds. But numerous attempts to kick-start the process have floundered and many Kenyans are sceptical powerful individuals will be arrested and charged because of widespread impunity among politicians.