If Taylor of Liberia can be hauled to The Hague and tried for aiding and abetting atrocities that were committed in Sierra Leone, why shouldn’t Putin of Russia face the same fate for aiding and abetting similar atrocities now being committed in Syria?
(“Liberian president Charles Taylor Convicted in The Hague,” The iPINIONS Journal, April 27, 2012)
My commentaries are replete with condemnation of the kleptomaniacal and genocidal thugs who have lorded, for far too long, over far too many countries in post-colonial Africa. But there’s no denying that thugs of a different sort have lorded, for far too long, over far too many countries on every other continent as well.
This is why, as my opening quote indicates, my commentaries are equally replete with condemnation of the International Court Criminal (ICC) for targeting those in Africa for prosecution in this respect.
It is noteworthy that the ICC elected Bensouda, an African woman from The Gambia, as chief prosecutor by consensus in December 2011. For there is no gainsaying that it did so primarily to counter the growing perception that it is a court of White men sitting in biased judgment against Black men.
(“No Equitable Justice in ICC Prosecuting Kenya’s Kenyatta,” The iPINIONS Journal, March 25, 2013)
But I’m afraid appointing a token Black prosecutor is far too little, far too late. Indeed, I am heartened that Africa now has a new crop of reputable and respected leaders who are echoing my condemnation of both African despots and ICC prosecutors:
Hailemariam Desalegn, AU chairman and Prime Minister of Ethiopia, said at the close of a two-day summit of the 54-member bloc on Monday that African leaders had come to a consensus that the ICC process conducted in Africa was flawed…
‘The process has degenerated to some kind of race hunting,’ he said, as the continental bloc ended its summit, held during its golden jubilee year.
A resolution urged the ICC to stop upcoming trials of President Uhuru Kenyatta and Vice President William Ruto, who have been charged with crimes against humanity for their alleged roles in orchestrating deadly violence after 2007 elections that left more than 1,000 people dead.
(Al Jazeera, May 28, 2013)
And if you think their resolution is even more flawed than the ICC process, I urge you to bear in mind that nobody called for the racist fiends who ruled the United States from slavery to Jim Crow to be hauled before any international criminal court for the systemic crimes they committed against humanity.
Therefore, I submit that, just as America has done since its founding, African countries should be left alone to figure out how to prosecute and imprison (if called for) any leader who commits an impeachable offense. And remember, it took a bloody civil war the likes of which the world had never seen for American leaders to just begin abiding by their constitutional principles of democracy and freedom.
Related commentaries:
No equitable justice…
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