Johannesburg – The African Union member states who are signatories to the International Criminal Court (ICC) could quit should efforts to transform the court fail, the AU’s civil society organisation the Economic, Cultural and Social Council (ECOSOCC) said on Monday.
“Withdrawal from the ICC is a route we would take if all efforts fail,” said Joseph Chilengi, presiding officer of ECOSOCC.
“Consultations to push for the reform and transformation of the ICC are underway, the only route left is for members to withdraw should we fail.”
Chilengi was accompanied by Sudanese activist Hussein Karshoum and ICC critic, David Hoile.
The three rubbished the ICC, and added that the court case launched by the SA Litigation Centre (SALC) against Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir was an attempt to disorganise the summit being held in Johannesburg.
“The events of the past 48 hours were immoral and baseless. The event was an indictment on the ICC and its collaborators…matters of this nature shall never be tolerated on the African continent.”
Bashir has been indicted by the ICC for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide against some of the tribes of Sudan’s western Darfur region. Two warrants of arrest were issued against him in 2009 and 2010.
Bashir flew out of South Africa on Monday despite a high court order preventing him to do so. There were widespread speculation about his whereabouts after he attended the AU heads of states meeting on Sunday.
As a member of the ICC, South Africa is obliged to arrest him and surrender him to the ICC.
Chilengi said that as a sitting president, Bashir enjoyed diplomatic immunity, adding that Bashir was invited by the AU and not South Africa.
“His visit here lied with the union, not South Africa. The entire continent will protect the integrity of this institution [AU], no kangaroo court will be allowed to destroy that.”
Hoile said the court had been disfunctional in the past 12 years, and had become an extension of the European Union (EU).
“Over 60 percent of its funding comes from the big five, the former colonials – the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The USA, Russia, China and India are not signatories and so is Sudan which is not a signatory to the ICC, and has in turn forfeited billions of dollars in development aid from Europe.”
The ICC bench of judges consisted of people who were not lawyers, let alone judges of a court of law, he said.
“All that bench was appointed for being able to speak English, the chair of the bench was a Japanese Diplomat with no experience to be at the ICC in the first place.”
Karshoum said the Sudanese were thankful to the South African government while they awaited Bashir’s return from Johannesburg.
“The people in Sudan are gladly awaiting the arrival of the president at the airport in Khartoum, the message from Sudan is that they thank South Africa for hosting the president so that he could perform his duties at the summit,,” said Karshoum.
According to the AU website, the ECOSSOC is an advisory organ that “contribute, through advise, to the effective translation of the objectives, principles and policies of the African Union into concrete programmes, as well as the evaluation of these programmes.”
ANA