* Suspects include politicians, businessmen * ICC to take case if Kenya fails to create local court (Adds government and prosecutor comment, resident reaction) By Andrew Cawthorne NAIROBI, July 9 (Reuters) - Kenya's post-election crisis mediator Kofi Annan said on Thursday he had handed a sealed envelope with the names of top suspects for the violence to the International Criminal Court's prosecutor. The move heightens pressure on Kenya's shaky coalition government to quickly establish a local court or face international justice for the worst bloodletting in the east African nation's post-independence history. "Justice delayed is justice denied," Annan said. Punishing culprits is a crucial step to ensuring stability in the nation of 35 million that is the region's economic powerhouse and faces its next poll in 2012, analysts say. "The people of Kenya want to see concrete progress on impunity. Without such progress, the reconciliation between ethnic groups and the long-term stability of Kenya is in jeopardy," Annan added in his statement. Kenya's government confirmed that President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga had received formal confirmation from Annan that he had handed over the envelope to ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo. "The transmission of documents by Mr Kofi Annan forms part of these collaborative efforts to ensure that justice is not delayed and that future crimes can be prevented," Moreno-Ocampo said in a statement. His list of at least 10 alleged masterminds of the violence -- in which at least 1,300 people died and 300,000 were uprooted -- names prominent politicians and businessmen, probably including two ministers, local political sources say. Two months of violence exploded after the Dec. 27, 2007 vote, following a campaign in which politicians openly whipped up supporters along tribal lines, and gangs stocked weapons in anticipation of fighting to come. Then opposition leader Odinga accused Kibaki of stealing the vote. With gangs facing off with crude weapons, and security forces opening fire on the streets, Annan brokered a pact that eventually ended the violence and made Odinga prime minister. NAMES WITH PROSECUTOR A government-ordered inquiry, the Waki Commission, had mandated Annan to hand over the envelope, with names of at least 10 alleged masterminds, if no local court was established. Kenyan officials told the ICC last week that they would submit a plan for a local court by September, and Annan's move will ramp up the pressure for that to happen. Former U.N. chief Annan "welcomed the government of Kenya's renewed efforts to implement the recommendations of the Waki Commission and to establish a Special Tribunal." Kenya's parliament has blocked previous attempts by Kibaki and Odinga to create a local court. "The government is working on a draft Constitutional Amendment Bill on an independent tribunal to deal with crimes within the framework of the Rome Statute," Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo told reporters in Kenya's capital. While some legislators opposed the court out of self-interest, analysts say, others did so on grounds it would be doomed to go the way of past inquiries in Kenya and fail to prosecute anyone. The ICC's Moreno-Ocampo told Reuters this week it may take Kenya about a year to establish a tribunal if it agrees to do so in principle. "If Kenya cannot do it, I will do it. There will be no impunity," he said. [ID:nL7185415] The issue of justice for the 2008 violence is among various problems straining the Kibaki-Odinga coalition. While both support a local court, many of their officials and supporters do not, arguing it could be used for vendettas rather than justice. "It is paramount that ... politicians be taken to the ICC where they can be prosecuted for the crimes for which I think they are responsible," said 26-year-old resident Rogers Karani.
Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir waves to supporters at the launch of the Safat-01 aircraft, Sudan's first home-manufactured aircraft, a $15,000 training plane that runs on car fuel, in Khartoum July ...
