20120124
Reuters
ELDORET/GATUNDU, Kenya (Reuters) - For 47-year-old Anne Ilsande, the International Criminal Court's decision on Monday to try presidential hopeful Uhuru Kenyatta and three other men for crimes against humanity was justice served, even if it won't bring her husband back.

Ilsande's husband was among more than 1,200 people who were killed in violence that flared after a disputed election in December 2007 which left east Africa's largest country, once regarded as a beacon of stability in the region, struggling to come to terms with the surprise outbreak in violence.

"It's justice and I'm happy about it. It's what I was waiting for," said Ilsande, who lost her husband in Eldoret in western Kenya's Rift Valley, epicentre of the 2007/8 violence.

Despite the ruling, which says former cabinet minister William Ruto - whose political powerbase is in Eldoret - will also face charges, Ilsande said the decision was bittersweet.

"I have no husband now. Where will I get another husband?" she said after watching live coverage of the ruling at the Highland Inn in Eldoret.

The Hague-based ruling has raised fears of renewed violence in tribally-mixed Kenya, although there were no immediate outbreaks of protests in Kenyatta's constituency, nor in Ruto's Rift Valley powerbase.

Kenyatta's supporters vowed to stand by him, hoping he would continue his bid to run for president in an election next year.

After the judge read the confirmation of charges against Kenyatta, a crowd of supporters spilled into Kenyatta's hometown of Gatundu, blowing whistles and chanting: "Uhuru is ours."

"JUSTICE HAS BEEN DONE"

Kenyatta, a member of the Kikuyu tribe is accused of mobilising the Mungiki, a local militia, to target members of the Kalenjin tribe who had sparked violence in the Rift Valley province targeting Kikuyu.

But some Kikuyu credit Kenyatta with saving the tribe from annihilation. One woman, who asked not to be named, fled to Nairobi from the trading centre of Burnt Forest near the Rift Valley after her home was burnt in the election's aftermath.

"If Uhuru had kept quiet, all the Kikuyu would have died," she told Reuters, crediting her survival to Kenyatta trucking young men to fight.

As human rights groups and analysts hailed the ruling in a country where graft is endemic and political heavyweights are generally considered above the law, some officials warned of heightened tensions.

"This might not be very good for peaceful coexistence, because people might feel that he (Kenyatta) is being victimised for other reasons," the commissioner of Gatundu district, Julius Ngumo, told Reuters.

While a process of appeals and trial hearings mean a verdict for those charged is still far off, Monday's ruling is the first step in the right direction, said some of the victims.

"Justice has been done," said Harrisson Macharia, whose daughter was killed when a mob of machete wielding Ruto supporters herded women and children into a church and set it ablaze on New Year's Day 2008.

"We want justice for everyone who was victimised by the violence," he said. "We victims are now satisfied with the outcome. We suffered a lot, and we are now waiting for the trial."