Nobel Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa arrived here on Thursday to attend an international conference on truth commissions.
Tutu, who chaired the South African Truth and Renconciliation Commission that delved into crimes of the apartheid era, will deliver the keynote address at Friday’s opening of the two-day conference, convened by Kenya’s Task Force on the Establishment of Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission.
”We are thrilled by the Kenyan government’s fight against corruption and impressed with the list of people who will make contributions at the conference,” Tutu told journalists on arrival at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on Thursday evening.
”We commend Kenya for wanting to take a good look at the past,” said Tutu, the 1984 Nobel peace laureate.
He said the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa has become something of a benchmark.
”We want to see Kenya also succeed,” Tutu said, but warned that the South African process should not be used as a blueprint everyone must follow slavishly.
Tutu said that one of the most crucial parts of the process is having victims tell their stories to a forum.
”You cannot have a past that has not been examined and that is the reason for having the Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” he said.
The conference on Truth Commissions and Politican Transitions will look into the legal basis and powers of truth commissions, the challenges of adressing both economic crimes and gross human rights violations, according to the organisers.
Delegates expected to participate in the conference include prominent professors from the world’s top universities, judges, members from other truth and reconciliation commissions and human rights activists. – Sapa-AFP