African leaders in Libya were on Friday hotly debating a draft resolution by the African Union (AU) which will, if adopted, deal a major blow to the efforts of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to prosecute war criminals in Africa.
The surprise draft was circulated on Thursday by Libya, the host country of the 13th AU summit, and by that evening, AU Foreign Ministers had moved to endorse the draft that will see the AU boycott the ICC. The draft declares that the AU ‘deeply regrets’ that the United Nations ignored its previous demand for the ICC in The Hague to postpone its arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, for crimes in Darfur. In consequence, the draft decision provides that AU countries ‘shall not cooperate’ with the ICC ‘for the arrest and surrender of African indicted personalities’, including al-Bashir.
The warrant against al-Bashir was issued in March on charges of masterminding the violence that led to the deaths of an estimated 300 000 people in Darfur since 2003. African signatories to the ICC are meant to hand al-Bashir over to the ICC for prosecution in The Hague, if he visits their countries. But support for the Sudanese leader has been growing and Libya was one of the first countries to ignore the ICC and host him as a visiting head of state. Zimbabwe also welcomed al-Bashir with open arms at the Comesa summit last month, where the grouping called for the international criminal charges against him to be dropped.
The draft decision against the ICC has contradicted assurances by the AU’s executive chairman, Jean Ping, that the African Union would not reach hard decisions against the ICC. Ping had said Wednesday that the AU would not reach ‘dramatic or binding conclusions’ for African countries that are party to the ICC.
“This is an insult to the 30 AU states member to the ICC, it basically orders them to flout their legal obligations,” said Reed Brody, a spokesman for Human Rights Watch said on Thursday. At the same time, human rights lawyer Gabriel Shumba told SW Radio Africa on Friday the precedent being set for Africa is a deeply troubling one, explaining that “the message this move sends out is that African leaders cannot be trusted.”
Written By: Alex Bell, SW Radio Africa
This is a disappointment African leaders want to kill and maim people and get away with it, I am happy with the stance that Botswana has taken arrest that criminal. Mugabe should be the next to be arrested, these leaders are loosing the plot. This continent is so far from democratic rule and respect of human rights. We will never be one state as the General wants to impose on us.
Thats a racist court Guseni. Bush must be hauled there first for us to take that court seriously. Are you aware that America does not allow its citizens to be tried by that court?
Kill all African useless so called Leaders lock them all up, and throw the keys away in to shark infested waters or throw the keys in to acid useless African leaders.
Wrong Abel.
The USA didn’t sign the Rome statutes. Neither did a lot of African and European countries. All it means is that they can’t be tried in their domiciled states. But they can be arrested and conveyed to the Hague by a Signatory to the Statutes.
What is it that the African leaders have done that makes them scared of hague? Kuvhundika chati kwatara hunge une katurikwa. Hague is for criminals… are they saying African leaders have a right to kill their fellow Africans and get away with it? I would get them if they are proposing a war criminal court in AU. See what happened in Rwanda, that is not forgiveable and those respossinsible should be tried. Dictators should not be allowed to get away with murder.
Look at the track record of those pushing for immunity?
We applaud fully the decision of the African leaders to boycott the ICC becoz it’s a body that’s now a discredited kangaroo court that’s being abused by Western countries to indict selected people from the east and africa., while genocidal criminals from the western countries are not hauled b4 any criminal court.. The decision of AU was long overdue..Very soon africans have to withdraw from the ICC altogether..
@ Fungai
“WE Applaud.”
Who the hell is “WE”. Are you npart of the Zimbabwe Government Fungai?
@ Fungai
It seems Liberia is accepting that Human Rights crimes are the norm in Africa.
Read the link: http://www.africanews.com/site/President_Sirleaf_barred_from_public_office/list_messages/25810
@ Fungai
If Mugabe was sensible. He should also set up a truth & Reconciliation Commission. At least it might spare him an appearance at the ICC. Personally I hope he doesn’t because he WILL face justice.
You mean set up a truth and reconcilliation commision for the genocide done by selous scouts, rhodesian army, african rifles, rhodesian police etc?
@ Fungai
YES..YES..YEs …….I do mean that.
What of us zanla during the war we killed as well cut off ears of those so called vatengesi and even ate peoples chickens at will goats and even took their young girls and raped them at pungwes hama you where not there in the days of the guns you only know one side of the story what the white was yes he was evil but there was also a dark side of zanu pf zanla and zapu as well you will soon know the history the true one not zanu pf history hahahaha young man vana hahaha
African leaders are a disappointment, I am still happy with the Botswana’s decision. We cannot elect leaders to maim and kill us and yet we clap hands for them. mugabe belongs in prison, he has never and will never be my president, I also believe that he is from Malawi.
Viva African union!!!!…As long as there is no indictment of western criminals , Africans will not cooperate with this stupid court ICC..An international court should not be set up to try people from developing countries only ,while it leaves western murderers free..Once ICC starts indicting genocidal perpetrators like Blair, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfield etc we will take it seriously and begin to cooperate..Blair, Bush and their henchmen lied deliberately to the world that iraq had weapons of mass destruction then they invaded it without UN approval then they slaughtered, butchered and torchered hundreds of thousands of innocent iraqis, then they destroyed the country’s infrastructure,they looted iraqi resources, the list is endless..These criminals need to be dragged before the ICC, for it to be respected.. It doesn’t matter that the western country is a signatory to ICC or not., its criminals should be brought to book!!.The ICC lost its credibility in the eyes of the international community and it’s now discredited….As africans we need to set up our own african justice court that is free from western manipulation & interference…
@ Fungai
You really must try harder to get your facts right. There have been only 4 Africans tried at the ICC. Three of them were at the request of their respective Governments. The ICC did not seek to try them, it was forced on them by the three African countries concerned. Uganda, DRC and CAR.. The case of Bashir was at the request of the UN.
Do you know this man ? he hates black skinned africans but likes the lighter skinned africans who fought John Gar ran for about 26 years and said black skinned africans dont think they should be killed they no human and we in Africa are protecting this fool . do you know that Sudan was a country for black africans only until the British took some few lighter skinned africans from Egypt and placed them in Sudan and they drove out the poor black Sudanese African send these fools away we dont need the lighter skinned African there go back to Egypt and lock him u or life
To Fungai; hama yangu the thing that you are missing here is that the wesy will never call on its own to be tried, so if us African do not amss evidence and intelligence to counter the claims laid at our feet by the , well don’t expect a white man to tray and drag Bush & Blair to the Hague. They have blood on thier hands, no doubt; but that does not mean al Bashir, Mugabe, Taylor et al do not.
These men are, arguably; probably as guilty as those guys: George, Tony, Vladimir; but the aforesaid three can take comfort in the colour tof thier skin, no-one and I mean no-one is going successfully get them to the Hague. And while you at it, remember these guys also belong to extremely influential cults and societies; i.e the Freemasons, Illuminati and so forth and so forth.
Now as Gaddafi’s stupid statement, it is all about these morons sticking together. By now you ought to ahve realised that it is all about protectionism. Some time ago, I think it was iether BBC online or Newsweek online that carried an article with a statement by the Gaddaffi, in his capacity as chair of the AU; that, democracy does not work in Africa, guess what, Zimbabwe & Kenya were his cited examples. What a fecking (can’t really swear on this site!) bastard. Anybody and everybody wants to be able exercise choise, and be free to do so, in essence that what democracy is really all about, no matter if you are African, Afghan, Chinese, black, white red, yellow or whatever. So all this chicken dropping by Libya is exactly that: chicken droppings. And the reason Gushungo and others like him welcome this rubbish is because they too have so much blood on thier hands, so it reassures them they can travel pretty much all over the continent and not risk being arrested.
Fungai, I welcome pan Africanism, but must work for EVERYONE, and against its own. Choose not to ignorant and see things as them and us, whilst that may be the case in most instances, but in this one, my friend; it is a matter of African killing Africans, and that is wrong. Fine don’t send to the Hague, but at least make them answe for thier crimes ON African soils, and try them by African prosecutors, (there are jahwi of them around) and let African judges, (and plenty of those too) sentance them in African prison. And Fungai you know just how luxurious our prisons are, thatnks to those fools!!!! What do you think hama yangu?