A Pan-African Conference on Trade Union in Sudan. President Bashir Hassan al-Bashir standing in attention., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
October 12, 2013 6:11 pm
African nations ask ICC to suspend cases against Kenya and Sudan
By Javier Blas, Africa Editor
Financial Times
The African Union has ratcheted up its pressure on the International Criminal Court to suspend cases against the leaders of Kenya and Sudan, with a unanimous decision to ask the UN Security Council to defer the trials for as long as the men remain in office
The 54-member group said Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta should refuse to attend the November 12 start of his trial on charges of orchestrating violence after the flawed 2007 presidential election that left more than 1,100 people dead, unless the Security Council rules on its request.
“We have agreed no charge shall be commenced, or continued, before any international court or tribunal against any serving head of state or government or anybody acting during his or her term in office,” said Hailemariam Desalegn, chairman of the AU and prime minister of Ethiopia.
“If the response is not positive, then we will have another extraordinary summit at the end of November,” Tedros Adhanom, Ethiopia’s foreign minister, said.
The Security Council can ask the ICC to delay any case for a year, and renew that decision indefinitely. But it has not responded favourably to African requests to delay the case against Omar al-Bashir, the president of Sudan who is indicted for war crimes.
Mr Desalegn said the AU’s goal was not a crusade against the ICC, “but a solemn call for the organisation to take Africa’s concerns seriously.”
Supporters of the ICC, including Desmond Tutu, the South African Noble peace laureate, have warned African governments against attacking the ICC. “Who will stop the next genocide?” the 82-year-old anti-apartheid hero said last week.
Elise Keppler, associated director at Human Rights Watch, said on Twitter that the AU “should get out of the business of interfering with judicial processes.”
Human right advocates say delaying trials until African leaders are out of office could increase the temptation for life-long terms to avoid prosecution.
The controversial move by the AU increases the tension between African countries and the ICC. The court is under fire across the continent for having only tried African cases and for obtaining a single conviction over its 11-year existence. The AU this year accused it of “race hunting”.
AU should get out of the business of interfering with judicial processes
- Elise Keppler, Human Rights Watch
African officials regularly complain that three of the five UN Security Council permanent members who regularly refer cases to the ICC – the US, Russia and China – have not ratified the Treaty of Rome that established the court.
But supporters of the ICC point out that the top prosecutor is from Africa and that African leaders have asked the Rome-based court for help in the past.
African officials said that a deferral was needed to allow Kenyan leaders to focus on security problems at home following the deadly terrorist attack against the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, where at least 67 people died.
The UN Security Council has ignored previous calls from the African Union to suspend a case against the president of Sudan. But European diplomats said ahead of the meeting of African countries that the cases of Sudan and Kenya were different.
Kenya is co-operating with the ICC – unlike Mr al-Bashir, who continues to evade arrest.
Ethiopia, which chairs the AU, will lead a mission to the UN Security Council in New York in the next few weeks.
William Ruto, Kenya’s vice-president, travelled to The Hague in September for the opening of his trial on charges of orchestrating violence after the 2007 presidential election. He was allowed by the ICC to return to Nairobi after the Westgate shopping mall terror attack.
If Mr Ruto and Mr Kenyatta do not return to The Hague, the ICC could issue arrest warrants against them.
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