AU asks ICC to defer trials of Kenyan president

The reason for the adjournment was so that they can deal with the aftermath of last month's Nairobi mall attack, in which more than 70 people were killed.

In a letter to the council, African leaders said the legal proceedings against President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto "will distract and prevent them from fulfilling their constitutional responsibilities, including oversight for national and regional security affairs".

Kenyatta and Ruto face charges of crimes against humanity related to the violence which followed Kenya's December 27, 2007 elections, in which 1,200 people died in late 2007 and early 2008. Both have denied the charges and have tried to have the cases adjourned or halted.

The AU requested that their trials be deferred "in order to provide them with the time required for the enhancement of the efforts aimed at combating terrorism and other forms of insecurity in the region".

At least 67 people were killed by members of al-Shabaab, an Al-Qaeda-linked extremist group, who attacked Nairobi's Westgate shopping centre on September 21.

In a separate letter, Kenya's Permanent Representative to the UN, Macharia Kamau, said that when considering the deferral request, the 15-member UNSC should take into account the "threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of aggression likely to transpire in light of the prevailing and continuing terrorist threat existing in the Horn of and Eastern Africa".

The Security Council envoys have said they would consider any AU request but noted that the council had turned down a deferral request in 2011 and rejected a request in May for the cases to be terminated because the council had no such power.

The Security Council can defer ICC proceedings for one year under Article 16 of the Rome Statute that established The Hague-based ICC but would need to adopt a resolution to take that step.

The AU and Kenyan letters to the council come 10 days after African leaders called for the prosecutions of Kenya's and Sudan's presidents by the ICC to be halted.