The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor said Thursday that Kenya's postelection violence that killed more than 1,000 people was a crime against humanity and pledged to initiate proceedings that could result in top officials facing trial.

Luis Moreno Ocampo said he told President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga that he will ask the Netherlands-based ICC judges to allow him to formally open an investigation into the violence that followed a contentious presidential election.

The fighting erupted along tribal lines amid accusations by the opposition that Kibaki's ruling party rigged presidential elections. Odinga was his rival and the violence ended when they agreed to a power-sharing arrangement.

Kenyans whose loved ones were butchered during the spasm of violence that lasted from December 2007 to February 2008 have doubted that those responsible would ever face justice in Kenya, where the courts are seen as weak and susceptible to corruption.

Harun Mwangi Macharia, whose 3-year-old daughter died when the church her family sought shelter in was torched by Kalenjin warriors, was gratified that there might now be trials.

"So that it is a lesson for future generations, they should be prosecuted without mercy," Macharia said of the culprits, adding that if they are not prosecuted, violence will be "inevitable" during Kenya's next nationwide vote in 2012. Macharia's wife saved five of their six children from the church inferno and suffered third-degree burns.

More than 600,000 people were displaced, over 40,000 buildings were burnt and more than 3,000 women were raped, many allegedly by the police, in Kenya's worst violence since winning independence from Britain in 1963.

"I consider the conflict in Kenya a crime against humanity," Moreno Ocampo said.

Kibaki and Odinga said Thursday that the government will fully cooperate with the ICC, even though some Cabinet members are suspected of being organizers of the savagery.

"We are ready and willing to work and cooperate with Mr. Ocampo to ensure that those who bear the responsibility for the crimes that were committed are brought to justice," Odinga said.

Several human rights organizations blamed businessmen and politicians in the current administration.

The clashes severely damaged Kenya's reputation _ the region's largest economy had long been regarded as a haven of stability in a region roiled by brutal civil wars. Tourism, the country's second largest foreign exchange earner, also took a hit. Continued...