Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Tuesday accused the
International Criminal Court of dispensing "selective" justice, in the
latest blast of criticism from Africa against the court.
"This world is divided into categories, there are
people who have the power to use international justice or international
law to judge others and it does not apply to them," Mr Kagame told a
press conference Tuesday.
"Everyone who needs justice should get it, it
doesn't matter where. You can't have an international system that is
supposed to dispense justice and it ends up doing it selectively or
politically," he went on.
Rwanda is not a party to the Rome Statute, which laid the foundations for the ICC.
Mr Kagame has often criticised the international
court, which some leaders on the continent accuse of racism and unfair
treatment as all of its current cases are against Africans.
In September President Kagame lashed out at the
ICC at the UN General Assembly for its crimes against humanity case
against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Vice President William Ruto,
both elected in March.
"Instead of promoting justice and peace, it has
undermined efforts at reconciliation and served only to humiliate
Africans and their leaders, as well served the political interests of
the powerful," he said.
No-show
The African Union on Saturday asked for the cases
against Kenyatta and Ruto to be deferred, warning it would support a
no-show by the Kenyan leader if the demand was not answered.
Rwanda did not protest however when Congolese
militia leader Bosco Ntaganda, turned himself in at the US embassy in
Kigali in March and asked to be transferred to the ICC.
President Kagame often criticised the UN-backed
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), set up to try the
alleged masterminds of the Rwandan genocide, which Kagame's then rebel
Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) brought to an end.
Mr Kagame accused the court of being too soft on
some of the alleged perpetrators of the genocide. But he acknowledged
the tribunal was better than no international tribunal at all.
The ICTR has also came under fire from some
analysts for not aggressively pursuing crimes against humanity charges
allegedly committed by the RPF.
SOURCE: AFRICA REVIEW
SOURCE: AFRICA REVIEW