The sustained attack on the International Criminal Court (ICC) by the African Union came into sharp focus at the 2017 Mo Ibrahim Foundation annual Governance Weekend in Marrakech – Morocco on April 6-9.

The Foundation chairman, Dr Mohammed Ibrahim, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, all put up a strong defence for the institution that has in the recent past become the object of much hate by the AU members.

The narrative that ICC targets Africans unfairly should be rejected in toto, said Ms Bensouda.

“A lot of African leaders choose to ignore how the numerous cases found their way to the ICC in the first place,” she said, disclosing that seven of them were referrals by various African governments.

Principal sponsors

The referrals include the one against Ugandan insurgents, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and another against former Cote d’Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has distinguished himself as one of the fiercest critics of the international court. Curiously, whereas he takes every opportunity to demonise the court with regards to the trials of African leaders, he seems at peace with The Hague-based judges trying Ugandan insurgents.

Former Secretary-General Kofi Annan. FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

Kenya’s case involving six suspected principal sponsors of the 2007/08 post-election violence was another referral. However, all the accused have since been absolved.

They included President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto. Other accused were former Cabinet minister Henry Kosgey, former police boss Hussein Ali, former Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Muthaura and former radio broadcaster Joshua arap Sang’.

The Central African Republic (CAR) and Mali have also referred cases to ICC. The CAR cases relate to the alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the context of a conflict in the country since July 1, 2002, with the peak of violence in 2002 and 2003.

The Mali case focuses on alleged war crimes committed since January 2012, mainly in three northern regions of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu, with incidents also occurring in the south in Bamako and Sévaré.

Military bases

A rebellion in Mali’s north involved deliberate damaging of shrines of Muslim shrines in the city of Timbuktu, attacks on a military bases in Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu, alleged execution of between 70 and 153 detainees at Aguelhok, and incidents of looting and rape.

Separately, incidents of torture and enforced disappearances were reported in the context of the military coup that ousted President Amadou Toumani Toure.

The Kenya cases found their way to the ICC after parliament twice voted in the court’s favour to prosecute the six chief suspects in the mayhem that claimed an estimated 1,300 lives and rendered at least 600,000 other internally displaced.

Much faith

Dr Annan recounted how, after waiting patiently for parliament to constitute a local tribunal to try the post-election violence cases, he was left with no option but to hand over the envelope containing the names of the chief suspects to ICC.

The retired UN chief had been handed the envelop by the Justice Waki Commission, constituted by the Kenya government, to investigate the violence that wracked the country as the opposition leader Raila Odinga contested President Mwai Kibaki’s second five-year term poll victory.

Mo Ibrahim, a Sudanese-British entrepreneur and founder of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

The case of Cote d’Ivoire, Ms Bensouda said, was referred to the ICC even before Abidjan became a signatory to the Rome Statute, underlying how much faith the continent, in general, and the Ivorians in particular, had in the international court.

African leaders, it would appear, have no problems with the ICC until it goes after one of them, yet all ICC seeks is justice for all and not for a select few, said Ms Bensouda.

Dr Annan explained in detail how in 1998 and when he was at the helm of the UN, African states played a critical role in founding the ICC.

To date, he went on, Africa constitutes the single largest ICC bloc, whose majority judges were also from the continent. The court has 18 judges who are elected for nine-year terms by the member-states.

How then could such an institution turn out to be targeting the African leaders? Dr Annan posed.

Be ashamed

“African leaders should not be ashamed of the activities of the ICC,” said the Ghanaian.

Dr Annan said that the threat of mass withdrawal from the Rome Statute by African states was a myth, since the former was an extension of the domestic jurisdictions.

To Dr Ibrahim, it was regrettable that African leaders had mobilised themselves into something a kin to a trade union with the sole purpose of shielding themselves against justice, with total disregard to the victims of their atrocities or misrule.

Following a campaign largely set in motion by Kenya, several AU members threatened to pull out of the Rome Statute. South Africa, Burundi and the Gambia made good their threats by applying for a withdrawal.

Not a member

The South African bid has since hit a brick wall after a Pretoria court declared it null and void, while the Gambia’s new President Adama Barrow announced his government would abandon the move initiated by long-serving dictator Yahya Jammeh.

Burundi seems to be the last state standing with President Pierre Nkurunziza maintaining a stranglehold on power, having forced his way into a third term against the constitution.

What also the African leaders seem to be ignoring is that fact that the international court could come after a suspect irrespective of whether their country was a Rome Statute signatory or not. Sudan is not a member of the ICC, yet the court has issued warrants of arrest for President Omar al-Bashir.

The first warrant for arrest of President Bashir was issued on March 4, 2009, and the second on July 12, 2010. The Sudanese leader is wanted for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur in 2003.