Nairobi — FBI and CIA investigators are now in Rift Valley probing reports that communities are arming themselves in readiness for the 2012 elections.

Five investigators led by a Mrs Meyers have interrogated two witnesses who claim to have seen people ferrying arms into the country from Uganda.

The group has also spoken to officials from about 10 civil society groups working in the region.

The investigators, according to informed sources, will present their findings to the US embassy in Nairobi and to their offices in Washington.

"Some of the evidence could be presented to the ICC should need arise," said a senior official in the US embassy in Nairobi yesterday.

The FBI and CIA officials were reportedly given documents that link some individuals to the sale of arms in Kenya.

The news of American investigators camping in Rift Valley has emerged the day after President Obama's special envoy on War Crimes Stephen Rapp was due to arrive in Kenya.

Rapp is expected to meet President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga at Harambee House at 11am this morning and impress upon them the need to cooperate with the International Criminal Court Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

Ocampo is due to appear before three judges in December to ask for permission to open investigations on Kenya.

ICC investigators have reportedly visited parts of Rift Valley recently to collect new evidence and corroborate the reports of the Waki Commission and human rights organisations.

Rapp told a conference in Madrid last month that the US was determined to see peaceful elections in Kenya in 2012. It is in America's interest to engage in war crimes prosecutions, he argued.

"The 2007 elections in Kenya shocked the world, and if we come to elections in 2012 and nothing is done, what message does that send? If the message is that you can get away with that kind of violence ... it could lead to a further conflagration. It is in the interest of the US to show this can't continue," Rapp said.

On October 7, the BBC reported that rival communities that had fought in 2007 were reaming in readiness for violence in 2012 and were not just stocking bows, arrows and spears but were now buying guns.

Internal security minister George Saitoti hotly denied the claims.

Agriculture Minister William Ruto also dismissed the reports and asked the police to investigate those who made them.

Human rights activists in Eldoret were subsequently interrogated by police and Ken Wafula was charged with incitement.

The government has been criticised internationally for failing to punish the ringleaders of violence after the 2007 election in which 1,300 people died.

The failure to organise a local tribunal in Kenya has forced the International Criminal Court to step in to prosecute suspects.

American ambassador Michael Ranneberger visited Rift Valley this weekend and spoke of the need to ensure lasting peace.

German ambassador Margit Hellwig Boette and Dutch ambassador Laetitia Van Den Assum were also in Rift Valley and held private meetings with civil society groups.

"We did not discuss about the arms reports but we did discuss issues affecting the youth", said Wafula after a meeting with Ranneberger.

Kenyan NSIS agents pursued the envoys, FBI and CIA officials but were unable to locate some of the venues where the meetings were held.

According to the BBC, members of the Kalenjin and Kikuyu communities both said they were arming to protect themselves.

"We bought the guns because we hear the Kikuyu have also bought guns," said a Kalenjin man told the BBC.

"Before we were using bows and arrows to fight the enemy but changed to guns following the post-election experience because we realised, compared to guns, the arrows were child's play." In Kapenguria, Ranneberger expressed concern over cattle rustling which assist the influx of arms through the borders where pastoralists live.

Ranneberger also met with youth groups to discuss how they can be empowered to participate in national development.