Kenya's Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka has apparently failed in his mission to the US.

Soon after Mr Musyoka met in Washington on Wednesday with Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, a State Department official told the Africa Review that “we do not support a UN Security Council resolution to defer the ICC Kenya investigation”.

The Vice-President had held talks with representatives of other Security Council member-states in New York on Monday. He sought their support for a one-year suspension of the International Criminal Court’s cases against six Kenyans accused of orchestrating the violence following the 2007 elections.

The other four permanent members of the council, as well as the three African countries holding rotating council seats, did not respond to Africa Review inquiries regarding their position on a possible ICC deferral.

But without US backing, Kenya has no chance of gaining the council’s approval for the proposed deferral.

Mr Musyoka declined on Wednesday evening to comment on the outcome of his visit to New York and Washington.

The State Department official added in an e-mail message to the Africa Review that the US does not agree with the approach being taken by the Kenyan Government in hopes of shielding the six from ICC action.