The Sunday News
INFORMATION on the International Criminal Court (ICC) website says the body investigates and, where warranted, tries individuals charged with the gravest crimes of concern to the international community: genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
It adds that the Court is participating in a global fight to end impunity, and through international criminal justice, the Court aims to hold those responsible accountable for their crimes and to help prevent the crimes from happening again.
The ICC is a creation of the Rome Statute in 1998. The Rome Statute then took effect in 2002, upon ratification by 60 States.
However, over the years, the organisation has been caught off-side as it has been used by the West to settle scores with African leaders. President Mugabe has been at the forefront in speaking openly against the conduct of the ICC, which he noted targeted African leaders and was being used as a tool by the West to macro manage political events in the continent.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of the 24th AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia last year, President Mugabe made it clear that the continent needed to consider pulling out of the ICC.
With the ICC seemingly not giving Africa fair treatment, there were suggestions for the formation of an African Court of Justice and Human Rights, and in recent weeks, a number of African countries have stood their ground and made their disgust on the conduct of the ICC clear, further cementing views by President Mugabe.
Reports last week said Gambia announced its withdrawal from the ICC, accusing the Hague-based tribunal of “persecution and humiliation of people of colour, especially Africans”.
The announcement came after similar decisions by South Africa and Burundi to abandon the institution.
The court had been used “for the persecution of Africans and especially their leaders” while ignoring crimes committed by the West, Sheriff Bojang, Gambia’s information minister, said on state television. He singled out the case of Tony Blair, former British prime minister, who the ICC decided not to indict over the Iraq war.
“There are many Western countries, at least 30, that have committed heinous war crimes against independent sovereign states and their citizens since the creation of the ICC and not a single Western war criminal has been indicted,” Bojang said.
Gambia has also been trying, without success, to use the ICC to punish the European Union for the deaths of thousands of African refugees and migrants trying to reach its shores. Namibia and Kenya have also made their reservations clear on the conduct of the ICC.
Events across Africa serve to show that President Mugabe was right in speaking out against the ICC, and those who dismissed his calls as political grand staging have been made to eat humble pie.
As one of the founding fathers of liberation movements in Africa, President Mugabe continues to lead from the front, rallying the continent to shrug off neo colonialism and reminding everyone now and again that Africa is for Africans; and should be governed by Africans without undue interference from outsiders and any disputes that may arise should be resolved in-house.
