NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Kenyan lawmakers passed a measure on to the government to leave the International Criminal Court for what they said were issues related to sovereignty.
Kenyan lawmakers said the ICC was a colonial mechanism that had anti-African tendencies. Kiraitu Murungi, the country's energy minister, was quoted in national media as saying the ICC was only targeting former colonies.
"No American or British will be tried at the ICC and we should not willingly allow ourselves to return to colonialism,'' he was quoted as saying.
Kenyan lawmakers don't have the authority to withdraw immediately from the ICC. The BBC said if the government backs the initiative it could take at least a year to withdraw, though cases already in The Hague court would still go forward.
Last week Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor at the ICC, requested the court issue summonses for six Kenyan citizens accused of "massive crimes" committed during post-election violence in Kenya in 2007.
Members of the two major political parties in 2007, the Party for National Unity and the Orange Democratic Party, were among those named by the prosecutor.
The ICC said more than 1,000 people died and 3,500 were left injured in 30 days of violence that included hundreds of rapes, "possibly more."
U.S. President Barack Obama, whose father was Kenyan, called for full cooperation with the ICC.
"Those found responsible will be held accountable for their crimes as individuals," he added in his statement.
