Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta (L) speaks with Cabinet secretary for
Foreign Affairs Amina Mohammed (R), and Attorney General Githu Mungai
(2-R) at the African Union ahead of a special summit on the continent's
relationship with the International Criminal Court (ICC) on October 12,
2013. Photo/AFP
A clash between French-speaking and
English-speaking African countries sunk a move to withdraw Africa from
the International Criminal Court in Addis Ababa at the weekend.
ophone countries and endless conflicts in the continent — put paid
to efforts by some countries to have the African Union announce its
withdrawal from the International Criminal Court.
They
instead issued five demands to the ICC and its guarantor, the United
Nations Security Council, to meet and pave the way for new relations
with the court on crimes against humanity and high level impunity.
They
also warned that should their list of demands not be met by November
12, the date set for President Kenyatta’s trial at The Hague, they will
convene another Special AU Summit to make far-reaching resolutions.
Sources
at the AU executive council and the Heads of State meeting said that
Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ghana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Ethiopia,
Nigeria, Malawi, Tanzania and Algeria pushed for the immediate
declaration of the withdrawal from the Rome Statute. Algeria is a
French-speaking nation and is not a member of the ICC.
Kenya’s
delegation at the executive council meeting, led by Foreign Secretary
Amina Mohamed and Attorney-General Githu Muigai was said to have
reminded their colleagues that what ICC was doing to Kenya could be done
to any African country in future.
This was the
reason, they said, decisions should be taken to stop the ICC. They were
aghast that the ICC had failed to respect elected African presidents and
time had come for the continent to flex its muscle by renouncing its
ICC membership.
It was said that they were disturbed
by remarks made by the lead prosecutor in the Ruto case, Mr Anton
Styneberg, that Kenya could appoint someone else to play the Deputy
President’s role to allow the substantive holder of the position to be
tried without interruption.
The remark, they said, bordered on lack of respect for elected African leaders.
However,
Francophone countries were opposed to the proposal for mass withdrawal,
saying, the AU should pursue their concerns with the UN Security
Council and the State Parties forum.
Senegal, Côte
d’Ivoire, the Gambia, Mali and Burkina Faso were unhappy with the slow
pace at which the AU has been moving to resolve conflicts in Africa.
Joined
by Botswana, they argued that while they were in agreement that the ICC
should not prosecute sitting presidents, Africa — which has a long list
of conflicts — should not be seen to be taking a move that will create
room for such dark acts. They cited civil war in Eastern Congo, the Boko
Haram conflict in Nigeria and events in Mali where the AU failed to act
on time.
The Francophone countries were further
opposed to the proposal that all AU members who wish to invite the ICC
to investigate cases in their countries should first consult the union.
This, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire argued, would deny countries their right
to solve internal problems.
It was also understood
that Côte d’Ivoire and Sudan, which have cases at the ICC, wanted their
position in the final statement from the Special AU Summit to be
strongly reflected as was Kenya’s. Their delegations argued that while
the Kenya case was urgent, their own situations also merited being
included higher up in the resolutions.
Perhaps, this
was the reason AU chairman Hailemariam Dessalegn, also Ethiopia’s Prime
Minister, said in his opening remarks: “It should be underscored that
our goal is not and should not be a crusade against the ICC, but a
solemn call for the organisation to take Africa’s concerns seriously.”
The Special Summit apparently had attracted the attention of the UN and the ICC.
Sources
at yesterday’s meeting said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called
each of the presidents in attendance, seeking to persuade them against
resolving to withdraw from the ICC.
Mr Ban promised to
use his position to amend the Rome Statute charter to bring on board the
concerns that were being raised by the continent.
It
is understood that President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, a strong
supporter of severing links with The Hague, reminded the UN boss that he
has “no teeth” to push for the amendments.
CONSIDERING DEFERMENT
AU Commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zumba, in her welcoming remarks, said:
“I
met ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda early in the week and expressed to
her the concern that the UN Security Council and the ICC should work
with us to enable the elected leadership of Kenya to fulfil their
constitutional obligations by urgently considering deferment of the ICC
proceedings against the President and Vice-President of Kenya in
accordance with Article 16 of the Rome Statute.”
SOURCE: DAILY NATION
SOURCE: DAILY NATION
