Africa or African states largely have reasonable cause to reconsider their membership of the International Criminal Court, even if it means reversal of their Rome Statute ratification. My stance is not against the backdrop of the supposed unfair treatment by the ICC of African personalities. Personally, I believe the ICC often gets it right with their pursuit of evil folks on the continent, but they are just too quick to press the prosecutorial button whilst they drag their feet with others’. I back up the wistful songs of the anti-ICC singers regarding the perhaps, deliberate effort of the ICC to overlook the atrocities of the big guns on the globe – I know you are thinking about USA and UK, but I even added Russia and China. More so, how do you go at them when they are not signatories to the court, as it is in the case of the United States?
In a matter of weeks, three African leaders, sorry, African states, announced their intentions to exit the ICC. Before you think these governments are dictatorial, I must indicate that they include South Africa, and the African Union has earlier indicated that “comprehensive strategy” be devised to foment the exit of the ICC by African states en-mass, albeit amidst confutations from some African states that have collaborated with the ICC in the past. I learnt that the Union may rather set up its own ICC to prosecute its war crimes culprits. That sounds funny. I know as much as you do.
It appears utopian to think this is practicable on a continent which has it as a taboo for a leader to openly chide his colleague of another state. You see how Zuma let Al Bashir off the hook sleekly when Interpol was calling? Away from that, the states that could exit the ICC a year to come are Pierre Nkurunziza’s Burundi, Jacob Zuma’s South Africa and my democratic friend, Yahya Jammeh’s The Gambia. I’m shocked, by the way, that DR Congo isn’t on the list. What is Joseph Kabila waiting for?
Focus on Burundi.
After the announcement of the ICC exit, I revisited my Africa map and history books in a bid to appreciate how significant Burundi is on the African terrain. In the end, no name cropped up as one of the globally revered pan-Africans, so far as my history teacher taught me. The geography left a smirk on my face. “This tiny African state?”, I muttered. As you read this, Burundi is internationally significant because of the “widely alleged” claims of human rights abuse. Yes, you read it right – “widely alleged”. In fact, a Human Rights council resolution “requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to “urgently organize and dispatch on the most expeditious basis possible a mission by independent experts” to Burundi “to undertake swiftly an investigation into violations and abuses of human rights with the view to preventing further deterioration of the human rights situation…” in the country. Unsurprisingly, the government wouldn’t cooperate. In the end, the report said “gross human rights violations have and are taking place, committed primarily by State agents and those linked to them”.
You should have seen the eloquent and multilingual Alain Aime Nyamitwe, Burundi’s External Affairs minister, insinuating that Pierre Nkurunziza’s government was being persecuted at the UN Security Council earlier this year. You can also imagine him categorically rejecting the “purposefully and politically exaggerated reports on alleged human rights violations” at the seventy-first General Assembly meeting of the UN. He sounded truthful and emphatic as I watched.
This is where it gets interesting;
“We are not involved in the investigation to be carried out by this commission…we are not refusing to cooperate with the human rights institutions (on all matters)…we will continue to cooperate on other issues but will not be part of the investigation”. On any day, these words would pass as those of an LRA commander who claims he hopes to rule his nation with the Ten Commandments whilst his subordinates rape and kill daily. Well, they are actually the words of the HUMAN RIGHTS minister of Burundi, as quoted by Reuters. To clear your thoughts, I put it in caps. Indeed, Burundi has a ministry in charge of human rights (and other businesses). Not only are they not going to cooperate. They reportedly sacked and barred the three UN investigators responsible for the report. So, when the honourable human rights minister said “we will continue to cooperate on other issues”, which issues are being referred to? Which issues, if not the reported extrajudicial killings, habitual torture, etc?
Is the UN’s verdict of Burundi being on the brink of genocide not as good as saying the country has already sunk into genocide, given Nkurunziza’s resolve to be headstrong? How could renowned human rights organisations and campaigners in and outside Burundi, and the United Nations have it wrong in their resolutions on Burundi’s human rights situation? What is so special about Burundi or Nkurunziza’s government to warrant these massive reproaches? Would it be fair to insinuate that I know why Pierre Nkurunziza decided to pull out of the ICC?
In times like this, music is my last resort. Kindly jump onto my wagon to Camp Tshatshi Palace and help me sing the song of Pierre Nkurunziza…
Bujumbura is under diplomatic attack.
The kingmakers of Burundi are being persecuted.
That is unfair.
The UN is against us.
The Human Rights Watch is against us.
Amnesty International has a scheme against us.
Nkurunziza is under unreasonable pressure from forces within (FORSC, FOCODE, ACAT, APRODH, RCP, etc).
Raphael Kodjoe / [email protected]
The writer, Raphael Kodjoe, is a Radio Broadcaster who thinks and talks about anything in the realm of humankind that is worth thinking or talking about.
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.