African leaders gang up against Int’l Criminal Court

A number of African countries are planning to withdraw their membership of the International Criminal Court following claims that the continent is constantly targeted by the institution.

Speaking at a two-day summit for which he was elected as the chairman, Chad’s President, Idriss Deby alongside other African leaders backed a Kenyan proposal pushing for a pullout from the ICC criticising the court for focusing its efforts on African leaders.

Read also: Buhari wants AU to intervene in Sudan, Burundi

“Elsewhere in the world, many things happen — many flagrant violations of human rights — but nobody cares,” Deby said at the close of the summit late Sunday, which had an official theme of protecting human rights.

The decision is a “proposal…for the AU to develop a road map for the withdrawal of African nations”, a Kenyan presidential statement read even though no legal binding decision was made at the end of the summit as the decision to leave the ICC’s founding Rome Statute is up to an individual nation.

The trial of former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo for war crimes which began last week rekindled the bitter row across Africa over the international justice system and its focus on African leaders

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