Kenya is reported to be lobbying quietly for a boycott of the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka, over the body’s failure to take a stance against the International Criminal Court’s prosecution of its president Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto.
Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Nigeria, South Africa and Zambia are reported to be supportive of the Kenyan initiative according to media reports.
“Kenya is determined to force in a favorable and decisive action against the ICC trials against its president and deputy president. The Commonwealth miss would be part of this bigger agenda which the world must appreciate has been forced on Kenya by the court,” a source told Kenyan paper The Star.
Another government source confirmed:
“It is almost a foregone conclusion by now that Kenya will not show up. And with it, East Africa and other African countries. By that time, the president is supposed to be at the ICC. The deputy president will be in charge here.”