The International Criminal Court has authorised a formal investigation¹ into the violence after Kenya's 2007 poll.

国际刑事法庭授权对2007年肯尼亚选举暴力事件展开正式调查。

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The ICC's prosecutor has said political leaders were behind some violence

Some 1,300 people died and tens of thousands were displaced as political differences snowballed into weeks of ethnic³（种族的） score-settling after the poll.

The ICC judges said that crimes against humanity（违反人道罪） may have been committed.

ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo requested the investigation last November, saying political leaders organised and financed some violence.

The ICC authorised the investigation in a majority ruling（少数服从多数原则） on Wednesday.

"The information available provides a reasonable basis to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed on Kenyan territory," said two of the three judges.

Aid groups and Western governments have urged Kenya to introduce electoral reform, eradicate⁴（根除，消灭） corruption⁵ and punish those who led the killing⁶.

List of suspects

Many Kenyans will welcome this decision as it is widely felt that unless some people are punished for the post-election violence of two years ago, the events could all too easily be repeated, says the BBC's Will Ross in Nairobi.

So far nobody has been held to account for the events which took Kenya to the brink⁷ of civil war, he says.

But now cabinet ministers and other powerful Kenyans look set to appear in the dock before ICC judges, our correspondent adds.

Kenyan Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo said he welcomed the move and would co-operate with the investigation.

He told the BBC the ICC was better equipped to take on the investigations⁸ than the current Kenyan legal system.

"What the government couldn't do, was to pass a law establishing a local mechanism⁹ that would have been able to facilitate（促进，帮助） investigations locally under best international practice," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.

"That is what we have failed to do."

Following the election violence, international mediators led by former UN chief Kofi Annan were brought in to resolve the crisis.

They brokered¹⁰（以中间人等身份安排） a power-sharing government, but repeated attempts by mediators to coax¹¹（哄骗，劝诱） the government into setting up a tribunal（法庭，裁决） to investigate the violence came to nothing.

Last July Mr Annan handed to the ICC a list of those suspected of orchestrating（指挥，安排） the violence.

The names on the list have not been made public, but correspondents say they are likely to be prominent（突出的，显著的） politicians and businessmen.

Some supporters of indicted¹²（控告，揭发） politicians are likely to rally behind their leaders, raising the prospect¹³ of a new upsurge（涌起，高涨） in political and ethnic tension, our correspondent says.