July 1, 2009 (KHARTOUM) — The African Union (AU) summit is unlikely to adopt a new position regarding the International Criminal Court (ICC) following its issuance of an arrest warrant earlier this year, its top official said today.
- Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir attends the opening of the African Union (AU) summit in Sirte, about 600km (370 miles) east of Tripoli, July 1, 2009 (Reuters)
The Chairperson of the Commission of the AU Jean Ping told reporters that the items on the agenda of the summit include the issue of “abuse of the principle of universal jurisdiction”.
The phrase refers to the jurisdiction exercised by international courts under international law that bypasses local ones.
The Associated Press (AP) said that the item is believed to have been raised by the embattled Sudanese president who is attending the summit.
Ping told reporters that AU’s final statement would not adopt “dramatic or binding conclusions” for African members of the ICC.
However he said that African leaders “are tired are being the only ones targeted" by the ICC”.
Libya along with Sudan have lobbied its African peers to push for a mass withdrawal from the ICC in response to the arrest warrant. A conference of African ICC state parties held last month in Addis Ababa adjourned without an agreement.
The Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi described the ICC as a “terrorist organization” following Bashir’s indictment.
Some African politicians including Ping accuse the court of unfairly targeting its statesmen while not looking at human rights abuses elsewhere.
The ICC is currently handling four cases consisting of Uganda, Central African Republic (CAR), Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Darfur.
With the exception of Darfur, all other cases have been referred voluntarily by their respective governments to the ICC for investigation.
The UNSC issued resolution 1593 under chapter VII in March 2005 referring the situation in Darfur to the ICC. At the time, Tanzania and Benin voted in support of the resolution while Algeria abstained.
It is likely that the AU will reaffirm its demand from prior summits that the UNSC use its powers to defer the warrant for 12 months that can be renewed indefinitely.
Some African officials have said that the UNSC is disrespecting the continent by ignoring this request.
This week the Egyptian foreign minister’s assistant for African affairs Mona Omar said that her government wants to focus on the issue of resolving the Darfur conflict and invoking Article 16 of the ICC statute.
However, she said that Cairo is committed to “combating impunity”.
(ST)
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