Sunday, October 13, 2013

Africa Says ICC Should Halt Prosecutions

Africa puts ICC to the knife

Sunday, 13 October 2013 00:27
Zimbabwe Sunday Mail
Morris Mkwate recently in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The African Union (AU) has resolved that no sitting head of state on the continent should be brought before any international tribunal for prosecution, in line with universally-agreed statutes that grant them immunity.

In a landmark decision aimed at rebuffing the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) relentless attacks on African leaders, the bloc also resolved to dispatch a high-powered delegation to New York to request the United Nations Security Council to defer criminal proceedings against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, Mr William Ruto.

The two leaders are facing charges of instigating post-election violence that rocked the East African country between 2007 and early 2008, leaving more than 1 000 dead and displacing thousands.

Speaking to journalists soon after returning from the AU Extraordinary Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, last night, President Mugabe said there was ongoing debate concerning the ICC membership of African countries that ratified the Rome Statute.

He said the AU could, however, only make recommendations to the states.

“Our position is very clear. We do not support the ICC. We did not become a member of the ICC and our position is that people must get out of the ICC. There are 34 members of the AU who are in the ICC.

“Our view is that members have their own capacity because it is not the AU that must take action. As such, the AU can only recommend to them and we, members who did not, you know, become members of the ICC, can only recommend to those who are members that leave it,” said the President.

“So, there is debate. Some say: ‘No, let’s wait until the matter has gone to the Security Council, but in the meantime, the ICC should defer the matter and not insist on Uhuru Kenyatta, the President of Kenya, coming for trial on 12 November.

“So, the debate was still on and we will get to know what remained. But most heads of state left after speaking and making their contributions.”’

Also speaking to journalists last night, Foreign Affairs Minister Cde Simbarashe Mumbengegwi gave a detailed insight into what really transpired during the summit. He said President Mugabe was among the leaders who spoke strongly on the need to guarantee sitting heads of state immunity from prosecution.

He said the President made it clear that the laws of individual countries set aside legal action against leaders until their terms of office expired. More than 20 other heads of state at the summit concurred.

“As you know, out of the 54 states in Africa, 34 are member parties of the Rome Statute that formed the ICC. There has been a lot of unhappiness in Africa about the way it has operated. It is absolutely amazing that of the 33 cases before the ICC, all of them are for Africans. So, when they went to the extreme of inviting a Head of State, who is in office, Africa felt that they had gone too far.

“This is why the Extraordinary Summit was called. We have got President Al Bashir from Sudan who was indicted and this time they have invited both the President and his Deputy. So, President Kenyatta wanted his colleagues to provide the necessary advice on the issue on what Kenya should do.

“President Mugabe made a very strong intervention on the issue, making it very clear that Africa should not accept a situation where a Head of State and Government who is still in office can be paraded in a full court, whatever the circumstances.

“Heads of State from all over the world enjoy immunity while they are in office and this immunity must apply universally. You cannot have a situation where you say a president who is immune from prosecution in his own country can be taken out of his country for prosecution in another country.

This position was adopted by the summit; that no head of state or anyone who is in a position to act as head of state should ever appear before any international tribunal when you are still in office. So, this has been resolved.”

Cde Mumbengegwi said the summit also took the position that Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto should not go to The Hague-based court. Instead, a high-powered delegation, comprising a representative from each of Africa’s five regions, will visit New York to engage the United Nations Security Council over the indictment of a sitting Head of State.

Ethiopian Prime Minister and AU Chairman Mr Hailemariam Dessalegn will head the delegation.

Cde Mumbengegwi said African leaders will meet again next month to decide the way forward if the concerns are not addressed.

He pointed out that while the heads of state were given to the correct application of justice, they did not condone impunity.

“The African Union has gone further to say that President Kenyatta should not go to The Hague to appear before this tribunal and secondly, the proceedings which have already started with Deputy President Ruto should be terminated in terms of this resolution.

“The African Union has decided to send a high-powered delegation to New York to go and engage the United Nations Security Council on the issue of the ICC indicting heads of state and government who are in office. The delegation shall consist of one representative from each of the five regions and it will be led by the current chair of the AU.

So, they are going to engage the Security Council and non-permanent members of the Security Council to get the ICC to stop its investigations. Now, if the issue raised by the African Union is not taken seriously, then the AU will hold another summit towards the end of November to decide what action to take.

“This is because at the summit, heads of state were concerned that Africa was getting a raw deal from the ICC and this is the point that President Mugabe made for prosecution: George Bush and Blair, about the atrocities that they committed in Iraq, Afghanistan and their support, for example, to rebels in Syria and what they did to Libya. All those should be the convenient targets of the ICC but nobody is talking about indicting.”

The AU Extraordinary Summit was convened to review Africa’s relations with the ICC following the indictment of Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto. The two joined a list of many other Africans who were apparent targets of the court’s unfair justice system.

A key issue to emerge was the possible pullout from the ICC by the 34 African signatories to the Rome Statute — the court’s founding treaty. Although the matter divided opinion, there was consensus on the need for the continent to act on the court’s questionable operations. So far, the court has indicted two sitting heads of state — Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir and the late Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

Former Liberian President Charles Taylor was also brought before the court, so was Cote d’Ivoire’s former leader, Mr Laurent Gbagbo.

The court alleged that Colonel Gaddafi ordered the killing of civilians in the preliminary stages of the Libyan uprising in 2011, a claim that continues to be challenged. Mr Gbagbo, it is alleged, played a role in the post-election conflict that killed thousands in his country in 2010.

In his opening remarks at the summit, Mr Dessalegn said: “The double standard that both the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and the ICC have displayed with regards the AU’s request for deferral for persecution in a number of cases, has been particularly worrisome.”

Meanwhile, President Mugabe returned home last night. He was welcomed at Harare International Airport by Vice-President Mujuru, Minister of State for Presidential Affairs Cde Didymus Mutasa, Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo, Minister of State Responsible for Harare Metropolitan Province Cde Miriam Chikukwa, Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Dr Misheck Sibanda and service chiefs.

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