Interesting perspective on ICC indictments
I didn’t know that all 12 of the indictments issued by the ICC have targeted Africans (do we really have a monopoly on atrocities?). On a more serious note, I think the article raises some serious issues. Lets face it…while we all like to pat ourselves on the back for “removing” Moi in 2002, there is no way the guy left quietly without some undercover amnesty deal from the Kibaki government and general reassurances that he will be left to his own devices. Not condoning impunity by any means, but sometimes you have to keep it real. And what’s with going after Bashir, when they can’t even get an indictment against some DRC rebel leader straight?
Confession: When I started law school I had dreams of working for the ICC chasing bad guys…then I realized just how bureaucratic the world of international human rights law is.
on July 16th, 2008 at 17:32
ha ha belive me, been there, dreamt it and worked there. just check out loud silence my blog just written something on icc…..
on July 16th, 2008 at 20:27
The ICC is a joke. I prefer the model used by the Israeli Mossad. You go out and find the bad guys on your own, you kidnap them and bring them back to your country to face justice. In some cases, you just outright kill them wherever they are in order to send a message to other bad guys who may be in hiding.
This is what the Rwandese need to do with all the genocide suspects who are now hiding out in Europe and South Africa.
The Ethiopians are doing it and if mugabe goes down, Mengistu is going to be in real danger.
Kenyanentrepreneur.com
on July 17th, 2008 at 10:59
Interesting article. What I find ironic is how everything comes together in a perfect circle. Often the people perpetrating the atrocities have more often than not been funded or armed by the same western governments that want to prosecute them.
A law enacted by Bush in 2003 makes it illegal for the United States to give military aid to nations that support the International Criminal Court - one has to laugh at this crazy game because you soon realize the prosecutors and the criminals are all responsible.
I still think Africa should handle its own affairs even if it seems a little crude - I’m not sure European courts will be the solution.
on July 22nd, 2008 at 12:06
I strongly believe that when you go willy-nilly massacring innocent people especially women and children, you should be held accountable. If at all Al-Bashir of Sudan has anything to do with the suffering of people of Darfur, then he should be shipped to The Hague to face justice. Today I am very happy to learn that the Bosnian Serb war crimes fugitive Radovan Karadzic was picked up in Belgrade yesterday and will soon be handed over to the tribunal. If he at all engineered the gruesome massacres in Sarajevo, then he should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Now, about African dictators, they should equally be arrested if they have committed atrocities. I don’t know how Moi escaped but again, his would have a strange and difficult case to prove. The only bully that shocked me till today is Idi Amin. Amin killed so many people but nobody even mentioned his name till he died peacefully in Saudi Arabia years back. I wonder how he did it..