Kenyan President on trial for crimes against humanity

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has appeared before the International Criminal Court at the Hague. He is the first serving world leader to appear before the court, where he faces charges of crimes against humanity.

The case is a major test for the ICC following a string of collapsed cases and which has been accused of singling out Africans for prosecution in the past.

Kenyatta, 52, is charged with five counts of crimes against humanity for allegedly orchestrating violence after a disputed presidential election in 2007. He is accused of inciting tribal gangs who butchered people using machetes and bows and arrows and orchestrating violence in which saw twelve hundred people lose their lives after Kenya’s 2007 election. Ethnic groups loyal to leading candidates burned down homes and hacked supporters of other candidates to death in an orgy of violence that raged until early 2008.

"My conscience is clear, has been clear, and will remain forever clear that I am innocent of all the accusations leveled against me," Kenyatta said before he boarded the plane in Nairobi.

This is the first time Kenyatta is personally attending a hearing since he assumed office in April last year.

The ICC prosecutor has postponed the start of the trial numerous times, citing lack of evidence. The prosecution has suffered a series of setbacks, with witnesses withdrawing and others admitting to lying. "In ordinary circumstances, the insufficiency of evidence would cause the prosecution to withdraw the charges," the ICC  had said in September but refuses to withdraw the charges.