- The government of Kenya will at last bring to justice those found to have fuelled the post-election violence that left over 1,000 people dead and 300,000 displaced.
According to the Nairobi presidency, Kenya's cabinet yesterday agreed to implement the recommendations of the Waki report, which made findings and recommended prosecution of all those responsible.
The government has been at cross-roads in making the decision, with some senior business and political figures in Kenya said to be implicated in the report.
President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Mr Raila Odinga are said to head an eight-man cabinet committee to lead the implementation of the report. After doing its work, "the committee will prepare its report and present it to cabinet," according to the presidency.
A Commission of Inquiry, headed by Justice Philip Nyamu Waki, was set up to investigate the violence that followed the country's 2007 general election. The Waki report attributed the chaos - that led to deaths of 1,133 Kenyans - to tribalism, a culture of impunity and poor police conduct.
The Waki Report recommended, in addition to the international tribunal, that there should be no general amnesty, as has been sought particularly by members of Orange Democratic Party headed by the Prime Minister.
Among those said to face justice will be 10 prominent politicians and businessmen, who allegedly helped to fund and organise killings.
The damning report had also suggested that only a limited amnesty be offered to some minor offenders in exchange for truthful confessions and to help in arrest and prosecution of organisers and funders of violence, and of those who actually carried it out.
While the report hit hard especially on Kenyan police and other state organs, it had also however observed that even though some of the violence was planned, in other cases it was spontaneous.
After the release of the Waki Report, the country's leadership had expressed a commitment to implement its recommendations, while also working towards full reconciliation. Today's cabinet decision is a first step in that process.
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