South Africa Forst African Country To Formally Quit ICC

[yulemsee]

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Burundi to follow swiftly

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/21/south-africa-to-quit-international-criminal-court-document-shows?client=ms-android-wiko

[Kadudu]

What is Kenya waiting for? I thought we are tired of this wabeberu court and have started our own African court for African people.
Kenya already committed 1,000,000 US$ to the establishment of this African Court. The only condition for establisment of the African Court is the immunity of the current presidents, vice presidents, cabinet ministers, members of parliament, members of local govt, presidential political appointees etc.

[MOON Ki]

The New York Times and Al Jazeera are among those reporting this more accurately:

Justice Minister Michael Masutha said on Friday that the government will soon submit a bill in parliament to withdraw from the court in The Hague, a move that comes as several African countries express concerns over what they call the ICC's disproportionate targeting of the continent.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/10/south-africa-formally-applies-quit-icc-media-161021044116029.html

Whether this is really serious remains to be seen, but we should keep in mind that exactly one year ago (Oct 2015), when the South African government and the ICC were in the middle of trading fisticuffs on the issue of Bashir's arrest, we had this:

South Africa plans to become the first state to withdraw its membership from the International Criminal Court (ICC), a ruling party minister said Monday, marking the latest and most serious threat against the court by African leaders who say it disproportionately targets the continent.

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/10/12/south-africa-threatens-to-withdraw-from-icc-alleging-anti-african-bias.html

at which time it was sugested that:

https://www.enca.com/south-africa/rules-need-changing-sa-can-withdraw-icc

October is a good month for these surprises, given that the Assembly of States Parties holds its annual session in November.    I bet they will now not be keen to discuss the fact that the South African High Court determined that the government had failed to meet its obligations in not arresting Bashir.

[MOON Ki]

What is Kenya waiting for? I thought we are tired of this wabeberu court and have started our own African court for African people.
Kenya already committed 1,000,000 US$ to the establishment of this African Court. The only condition for establisment of the African Court is the immunity of the current presidents, vice presidents, cabinet ministers, members of parliament, members of local govt, presidential political appointees etc.

Kenya is very active!   How many times has parliament passes a motion to withdraw from the ICC?   

As for the African court, they don't have a great deal of money.   Additional funds will have to come from "international partners" (aka "donors"), who, among other things, probably feel they are already doing enough: The AU's 2016 budget looks like the budget always does:

TOTAL: $416M, African countries - $169M, Donors - $247M (i.e. 60%)

Of that, the development budget is even more telling:

TOTAL: $266M, African Countries - $20M, Donors - $246M (i.e. 92%)

The nasty, neo-colonial, imperialist types!   African solutions for African problems!

[Georgesoros]

I dont think any normal African can expect justice if the perpetrators are given immunity. What a waste of money.

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

South Africa has caught on fast with the rest of the beloved continent since the days of Mandela.  When the government breaks the law they try to change the law, to legalize the crime.  That way they can claim adherence to the rule of law with a straight face.

[Georgesoros]

Isnt that what Ruto et al did?
In my opinion a country that does nto adhere to basic law principles will never progress. Look at Russia, Most of S. America, most of Middle East, and others - oligarchs rule. Strong men/women are the law.

South Africa has caught on fast with the rest of the beloved continent since the days of Mandela.  When the government breaks the law they try to change the law, to legalize the crime.  That way they can claim adherence to the rule of law with a straight face.

[MOON Ki]

In the meantime ... Gabon last month became the 7th Africa country to ask the ICC to step in:

Statement of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, concerning referral from the Gabonese Republic

https://www.icc-cpi.int/Pages/item.aspx?name=160929-otp-stat-gabon

A move welcomed the Opposition leader, Jean Ping:

Ping welcomes ICC investigation, calls for public shutdown on October 6

http://www.africanews.com/2016/09/30/ping-welcomes-icc-investigation-calls-for-public-shutdown-on-october-6/

Jean Ping was AU chairman from 2008 to 2012, and led the anti-ICC rhetoric when the Kenyan cases started.   

Jan 2011:

African Union accuses ICC prosecutor of bias

African countries support the International Criminal Court (ICC) but its chief prosecutor is guilty of double standards, the chairman of the African Union Commission said on Saturday.

Jean Ping's comments came a day after Africa's foreign ministers threw support behind Kenya's bid to defer the trials of key suspects accused of masterminding the ethnic bloodshed that followed a disputed election in

2007.http://www.reuters.com/article/ozatp-africa-icc-idAFJOE70T01R20110130

A continent full or jokers.  Or so it must seem to the rest of the world.

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

In the meantime ... Gabon last month became the 7th Africa country to ask the ICC to step in:

Statement of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, concerning referral from the Gabonese Republic

https://www.icc-cpi.int/Pages/item.aspx?name=160929-otp-stat-gabon

A move welcomed the Opposition leader, Jean Ping:

Ping welcomes ICC investigation, calls for public shutdown on October 6

http://www.africanews.com/2016/09/30/ping-welcomes-icc-investigation-calls-for-public-shutdown-on-october-6/

Jean Ping was AU chairman from 2008 to 2012, and led the anti-ICC rhetoric when the Kenyan cases started.   

Jan 2011:

African Union accuses ICC prosecutor of bias

African countries support the International Criminal Court (ICC) but its chief prosecutor is guilty of double standards, the chairman of the African Union Commission said on Saturday.

Jean Ping's comments came a day after Africa's foreign ministers threw support behind Kenya's bid to defer the trials of key suspects accused of masterminding the ethnic bloodshed that followed a disputed election in

2007.http://www.reuters.com/article/ozatp-africa-icc-idAFJOE70T01R20110130

A continent full or jokers.  Or so it must seem to the rest of the world.

Jean Peng, I now remember, was one of the loudest opponents of holding African leaders accountable for the atrocities they commit in their countries.

[RV Pundit]

ICC is useless as long as it cannot touch some countries. It now more or less African criminal court. ICC will be taken seriously when US, Isreal and the likes are under its juridisction...then we can talk about ICC the same way we talk about the UN.

Right now all the cases there are African cases mostly self-referall from dictators like M7 or kabila.

[MOON Ki]

Whether this is really serious remains to be seen, ...
....
October is a good month for these surprises, given that the Assembly of States Parties holds its annual session in November.    I bet they will now not be keen to discuss the fact that the South African High Court determined that the government had failed to meet its obligations in not arresting Bashir.

There was plenty of noise back then.   The withdrawal has now been quietly withdrawn:

The President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) H.E. Mr. Sidiki Kaba welcomes the decision by South Africa to revoke with immediate effect of the instrument of withdrawal from the Rome Statute deposited by the Government of South Africa with the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 19 October 2016.

On 7 March 2017, the Permanent Mission of the Republic of South Africa notified this decision by note verbale to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, as depositary of the Treaty

https://www.icc-cpi.int//Pages/item.aspx?name=pr1285


* Gambia too has, after a kienyeji change of government, decided---as in appreciated what the "donors" it begs from like---that it has it has more important things of concern itself with:

The President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) H.E. Sidiki Kaba welcomes the decision of the newly-elected Government of the Gambia not to withdraw from the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the ICC.

https://www.icc-cpi.int/Pages/item.aspx?name=PR1274


*  Namibia is still standing firm, but much in the same way that Trump's White House is standing firm on Obama being a bad/sick dude who wire-taps all over the place.     According to Namibia now, all that has happened is that there has been a cabinet-level approval (nothing beyond that!)  on the mere possibility (no more than that!0  of withdrawal as a matter of principle (and who wouldn't be for principles!).

An right now, Museveni, one of the court's fiercest critics (except when he isn't handing over people like Ong'wen) is campaigning hard to get one of his people there as a judge: http://www.theugandatoday.com/news/2017/01/uganda-fronts-justice-balungi-for-icc-judge/

So much for the "African mass withdrawal from the neo-colonialist, imperialist court".   Kenya the circus---how any withdrawal motions did parliament pass?---to the extent that people like Amina got carried away with "continental power" ... and then promptly forgot about it.