The president of the International Criminal Court on
Thursday said it has never targeted any African country, calling such
criticism "regrettable".
"We never chased any African country, we didn't do
anything in this respect, they brought their own situation to us,"
Korean judge Sang-Hyun Song told news wire AFP, speaking in English.
His comments were the court's strongest response
yet to accusations made by Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta at an African
Union summit last week of "bias and race-hunting at the ICC".
The African Union has called on The Hague-based
court to adjourn the crimes against humanity trials of Kenyatta and
Kenya's Vice-President William Ruto.
But Song strongly defended the court as he spoke
on the sidelines of a Bucharest conference on the ICC organised by the
Romanian government.
"The ICC should not be blamed for what it did not do," he said.
Song said that out of eight conflicts, five cases
were referred to the ICC by the countries' governments and two by the UN
Security Council. Kenya is the only country where the ICC initiated its
own investigation.
"The Kenyan parliament voted down twice the idea
that was recommended by the international community that they should
introduce a special criminal tribunal of their own which will handle
these particular tragedies.
"Since they voted down twice, there was no option but the ICC prosecutor's intervention," Song said.
President Kenyatta and Mr Ruto face charges for
allegedly masterminding a vicious campaign of ethnic violence that left
at least 1,100 dead and more than 600,000 homeless after disputed 2007
elections.
Political factors
Now allies and elected this year on a platform of
national reconciliation, the pair argue the case is violating Kenyan
sovereignty and hampering their running of the country.
But Song said: "When the ICC prosecutors initiated
all these investigations, it was with the full blessing of the Kenyan
government and people and international community."
The judge said the ICC's decision last week to let
Libya try Muammar Gaddafi's former spy chief -- the first time the
court has deferred a case to a national judiciary -- had also been met
with criticism.
"Dealing with highly sensitive matters of
international significance, it seems inevitable that the ICC action
raises strong reaction, praise but also criticism. Judges will not take
political factors into account," he said.
Aside from Kenya, the ICC is investigating cases
in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, the Central African
Republic, Libya, Cote d'Ivoire and Mali.
"The situation in Africa is a concern to all of
us," said Tiina Intelmann, president of the Assembly of the States
Parties to the ICC's founding Rome Statute, who also attended the
Bucharest conference.
SOURCE: AFRICA REVIEW
SOURCE: AFRICA REVIEW
