Africa must pull out of ICC

Mukachana Hanyani
THE fact that African Union (AU) has resolved to pull out of the International Court of Justice (ICC) and form an alternative, the African Court of Justice, should be a clear message to the international community that Africa is ready to stand on its own. It should not be just a resolution that appear on paper but should be implemented. The AU has to be a respectable organisation which should not be abused by its former colonial masters housed in the European continent. Africa should decide what to do for its own interests and whenever there are some important gatherings like the recent AU Summit in South Africa, some leaders must not be afraid of harassment and arrest like what befell the Sudanese President, Omar Al-Bashir.

All African leaders must be free and comfortable to go around in every corner of the African continent without fear of arrest by the ICC. It should be made clear that the ICC has no place in Africa and its mandate should be operational on the European continent.

African leaders should not allow themselves to be told what to do by the ICC. The Southern African Litigation Centre (SALC) in South Africa sought the arrest of the Sudanese President, Omar Al-Bashir, who was being accused of committing crimes against humanity and genocide in the Darfur region. The SALC wanted him arrested while he was attending the AU Summit showing that the ICC and its surrogates have no respect for African institutions.

The ICC has been taking African leaders for granted and it has managed to make sure that Africans are set against each other for its fulfilment of goals. What the SALC did, through the South African High Court to make sure that the Sudanese President is not allowed to fly out of South Africa before the court procedures are completed, is uncalled for. It is wrong for Africans leaders to let activities of that nature to take place in their countries.

For that reason, African leaders should own up to what they would have agreed upon. Resolutions without implementation cannot serve Africa from vultures like the ICC. South Africa should not forget that former Liberian President, Charles Taylor, was arrested in Nigeria under similar circumstances. Charles Taylor, who was lured to Nigeria by the then Nigerian leader, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, on the pretext that he would be safe in Nigeria ended up in the ICC cells.
While in Nigeria, the ICC arrested Charles Taylor with Nigeria doing nothing to protect him from the marauding ICC.

Now the same was about to happen to President Omar Al-Bashir in South Africa. President Al-Bashir was assured by the South African government of all protocols and protection throughout the AU Summit but the SALC sought to embarrass the AU leaders and the host South African government through such litigation.

In actual fact the SALC was aware that the Sudanese President had immunity when attending the AU Summit but it just wanted to cause a scene out of that litigation. African leaders should not allow such things to happen on the African continent again. Why would such an organisation sought to embarrass an African head of State when he was attending a very important AU Summit?

Why is it that the AU could let such pseudo organisations like the SALC disturb the AU Summit at the time when very important issues were being discussed? The AU has made it clear that no sitting Head of State should be taken to the ICC for any crime, so why would the same AU fail to implement such a resolution? So the AU should do away with the habit of coming up with important resolution which only end up gathering dust.

Just some few months ago Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta, appeared before the same ICC together with his deputy, William Ruto, charged with crimes against humanity over the violence that occurred after the 2007 Kenyan elections.

While the two were facing such charges at the ICC, before President Uhuru Kenyatta`s charges were dropped by the same court for lack of evidence incriminating him, the AU remained silent. It looked like there was nothing taking place and some of the African leaders thought it was necessary for the two to be tried there as they were facing what they did.

It is surprising that the AU would let the ICC do what it pleases in Africa with no concern from the African leaders. Surprisingly the United States of America, which hosts the United Nations General Assembly every year, makes sure that all leaders carry the same protection and immunity including leaders who would be under the USA sanctions.

Why would the African countries fail to do what the Americans do when hosting the UN General Assembly? Is it because of the colonial mind and inferiority complex that make African leaders fail to flex muscles in their countries?

Having the ICC in the world is not a problem, but for the former colonial masters to use it against African leaders is wrong. While some of the African leaders need to be held accountable for their crimes, the law should not be applied differently.

Since its formation, the ICC has only targeted African leaders and whilst doing nothing to the leaders from the western world who could have committed crimes against humanity worse to what African leaders could have done.

To deal with this menace called the ICC once and for all, the AU should go ahead with the idea of coming up with its own version of the ICC called African Court of Justice. The AU should make sure that the ICC is given non person grata in Africa as it should deal with European cases while Africa deals with its own problems. Africans are an educated lot who could also be innovative and run their continent without outside interference.

The colonial ghost, which is still a problem to some African countries, must be exorcised so that African leaders do not rush to Europe whenever there is a problem. So the Sudanese President`s incident in South Africa should not happen again to any African leader in order to show the ICC that the AU does not subscribe to it.