Chronicle Editor
BUJUMBURA. — Burundi is becoming the first country to withdraw from the International Criminal Court. An ICC spokesperson confirmed that the pullout was to take effect yesterday, a year after the East African nation notified the United Nations secretary-general of its intention to leave the court that prosecutes the world’s worst atrocities. Burundi is the only one of three African nations to go ahead with its withdrawal after making moves last year to leave amid accusations that the court focuses too much on the continent.
South Africa’s withdrawal was revoked in March. Gambia’s new government reversed its withdrawal in February. Burundi’s withdrawal doesn’t affect the preliminary examination of the country’s situation already under way by the court’s prosecutor, ICC spokesperson Fadi El Abdallah told The Associated Press. That examination began in April 2016. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the country. — AFP.
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