Kenyatta sworn in as Kenya president

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 09 April 2013 | 18.19

9 April 2013 Last updated at 06:04 ET

Uhuru Kenyatta has been sworn in as Kenya's new president, following his victory in March against Raila Odinga.

Dignitaries and tens of thousands of people witnessed the inauguration at a stadium in the capital, Nairobi.

Mr Odinga did not attend the ceremony after his attempt to overturn Mr Kenyatta's victory in court failed.

Mr Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto, face charges at the International Criminal Court relating to post-election violence five years ago.

They were on opposite sides at the time and both deny the accusations.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who faces an ICC arrest warrant over the conflict in Darfur, is not in Nairobi for the inauguration.

Mr Kenyatta is the son of Kenya's founding father, Jomo Kenyatta, and is heir to one of the largest fortunes in Kenya.

'Peace'

He served as deputy prime minister, minister for trade, and finance minister under outgoing President Mwai Kibaki.

The 51 year old will be Kenya's youngest president.

Continue reading the main story
  • Born October 1961, son of founding President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta
  • Heir to one of the largest fortunes in Kenya, according to Forbes magazine
  • Groomed by former President Daniel arap Moi to be his successor, but heavily lost 2002 election to Mwai Kibaki
  • Second African president to be indicted by ICC, after Sudan's Omar al-Bashir

The crowd, waving Kenyan flags, burst into rapturous welcome as he took the oath of office.

Among the African leaders present for the inauguration were South Africa's Jacob Zuma, Nigeria's Goodluck Jonathan and Uganda's Yoweri Museveni.

Mr Odinga - the outgoing prime minister - is on holiday in South Africa, while other senior members of his Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord) party have also stayed away to signal their opposition to Mr Kenyatta's presidency, correspondents say.

According to official results, Mr Kenyatta beat Mr Odinga by 50.07% to 43.28% in March, avoiding a run-off by just 8,100 votes.

Mr Odinga challenged the result, but said he would respect the Kenyan Supreme Court's ruling in Mr Kenyatta's favour.

After the ruling, Mr Kenyatta said his government would "work with and serve all Kenyans without any discrimination whatsoever".

"Above all, let us continue to pray for peace in our country," he said.

The election was Kenya's first after a disputed poll in 2007, which led to violence that left more than 1,200 people dead.

Mr Kenyatta is due to appear at the ICC for his trial in The Hague later this year, accused of crimes against humanity. He denies the charges.

Kenya is a party to the Rome Statute, the treaty which established the ICC in 2002.

But like most African countries, it has refused to enforce the ICC warrant for Mr Bashir's arrest.

Earlier, Kenyan government spokesman Muthui Kariuki told the BBC that Mr Bashir had been invited and would not be arrested if he accepted the invitation.

After Mr Bashir visited Kenya in 2010, a Kenyan court ruled that the government must arrest him if he returned, in line with its international obligations under the Rome Statute.

The government is appealing against the ruling.


Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

Kenyatta sworn in as Kenya president

Dengan url

http://gemukesehatan.blogspot.com/2013/04/kenyatta-sworn-in-as-kenya-president.html

Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya

Kenyatta sworn in as Kenya president

namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link

Kenyatta sworn in as Kenya president

sebagai sumbernya

0 komentar:

Posting Komentar

techieblogger.com Techie Blogger Techie Blogger