Kampala — Only 37 states on Monday responded to the first call to make pledges for continued support of the International Criminal Court. Surprisingly, only Uganda and Tanzania are the only nations from the East African Community to have responded positively to the call.

Kenya, where ICC chief prosecutor Mr Luis Moreno-Ocampo is currently carrying out investigations of the 2008 post-election violence and to which he said will have two perpetrators of the mayhem prosecuted by end of this year was a notable missing name from those who made the pledges.

This came just a few hours after the Kenya Attorney General Amos Wako who led its delegation to the ICC Review Conference in Kampala had confirmed full support to the Rome Statute.

Other countries are Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, the European Union, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Liechtenstein, Italy, Ireland, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Republic of Korea, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela and Zambia.

In a speech read by Minister of Justice of the Netherlands Mr Ernst Hirsch Ballin, the submitted pledges cover among others, financial contributions, conclusion of enforcement of sentences agreements, conclusion of agreements on privileges and immunities, relocation of witnesses, cooperation with the court and between states in various forms, complimentarily and designation of focal points.

Mr Ballin said the overwhelming support to the first call for pledges signifies a successful introduction of the process within the ICC.

"It shows that a pledging process can serve as a catalyst for reflection on how we can assist the court and each other in the fight against impunity. Therefore we look forward to continuing this process. This is just a start," said Mr Ballin.

United States's involvement in the ICC affairs envisaged by the 20 member delegation team as an observer state at the review conference has attracted applause with former UN chief Kofi Annan expressing optimism that it could soon see reason to ratify the Rome Statute.

Mr Annan and Mr Moreno-Ocampo have castigated the 'big' nations among which are the permanent member states to the Security Council, over their persistence in preaching justice and yet they don't allow the justice to be applied on them.

US seems to have heeded the calls and affirmed this by making a pledge to support the court's functions.