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| African
leaders accuse
of the ICC “witch-hunting” but rights groups said it's a good mechanism for justice (Photo taken from Veterans Today) |
The Gambia announced Tuesday evening
that is withdrawing its membership of the International Criminal Court (ICC), calling
it “an International Caucasian Court for the persecution and humiliation of
people of colour, especially Africans."
The move comes exactly three
years after the African Union threatened to lead a mass withdrawal of African
countries membership
of the ICC over allegations of “witch-hunting African leaders” and in protest at the trial of
Kenya’s William Ruto.
ICC
is a permanent international judicial body set up to try individuals for
genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes where national courts are
unable or unwilling to do so. It's a court of last resort.
This month, Burundi and South Africa
made public their plans to leave the ICC. Kenya, whose leaders were indicted by
the Court, also plans to quit.
Gambia’s Minister of Information,
Sheriff Bojang, criticized the Court of selective justice, citing potential
war-crimes indictment for ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair over the Iraq war
that has been overlooked by The Hague-based ICC.
"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," he said in a televised
statement on October 25.
Bojang said "The Gambia took the European Union to the ICC about a year ago for the mass murder, the genocide of thousands of young Africans on European coastal waters, and since then, nothing has been heard from the ICC."
Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, had in
2014, called for a United Nations
investigation into the "man-made sinking" of boats
carrying African migrants to Europe.
He said the death of more than 500
Gambians is as a result of the "very dangerous, racist and inhuman
behavior of deliberately causing boats carrying black Africans to sink."
In October 2013, the Yahya Jammeh-led
Government of The Gambia pulled
the West African country out of the Commonwealth, a 54-member organization
mainly of former British colonies – citing neo-colonial tendencies.
Written by Modou S. Joof
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Jammeh scared of something?
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