Apprehend most wanted African leaders said deputy ICC prosecutor
July 24, 2011 (JUBA) – The deputy chief persecutor for International Criminal Court (ICC) Ms. Fatou Bensouda said earlier this month in Botswana that all members of the court should arrest suspects if they enter their territory.
Bensouda was speaking on July 6 at an international media conference held in Gaborone under the theme: “Do immunity rights, peace negotiations and national amnesty laws contradict international criminal law”.
The ICC has issued 25 arrest warrants for people from African countries who are accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Most prominent of the arrest warrants is that for Sudan’s president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir for conduct of the counter insurgency campaign in Darfur. The court had also issued warrants of arrest for three others: Ahmed Haroun the former interior minister; Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman (AKA Ali Kushayb) a former leader of a government aligned militia the Janjaweed; and two rebel leaders Abdallah Banda of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and Saleh Mohammed Jerbo Jamus (AKA Seleh Jerbo) of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA).
In Central African Republic, Jean-Pierre Bemba, the leader of the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) who is on trail.
The Democratic Republic of Congo have five people most wanted that composed with Thomas Lubanga, Bosco Ntaganda, Germain Katanga, Mathew Ngudjolo and Callixte Mbarushimana. In DRC, only three among suspected leaders Mr. Germain, Mathew and Thomas are on trail and Mr. Callixte is arrested as well Bosco still most wanted by ICC.
In Uganda, the ICC is seeking Joseph Kony, Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo, Raska Luwiya and Dominic Ongwen to be arrested but none of those suspected members never appeared before court. However, among five suspected in Uganda, two already deceased the court. They deceased comprised of Vincent Otti and Rask Lukwiya.
In Kenya, six people are most wanted by ICC that comprised by Francis Kirimi Muthaura, Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, Mohammed Hussein Ali, William Samoei Ruto, Henry Kiprono Kosgey and Joshua Arap Sang. All those suspected people in Kenya are not arrested; they were charge for having masterminded the election violent in Kenya.
The newly cases on desk of ICC is Libya issue. Three key Libyan leaders comprised with President Muammar Mahamed Abu who is well-known as Colonel Mummar Gadaffi, his son Saif Al-Islam Gadaffi and Abdullah Al-Sennussi. They three leaders who charge for having use violent in Libya during popular uprising for regime change.
African countries leaders complained that they ICC is targeting African leaders. The ICC managed to arrested few African leaders and they justify decision of arresting African leaders, saying that they will not allow African leaders to kills their own people.
Speaking during the International media conference held in Botswana Gaborone, the deputy chief prosecutor for ICC Ms. Fatou Bensouda said that “the ICC is more than a court; it is a comprehensive and global criminal justice system, to which today 115 states have subscribed. These states parties have all committed to prevent and punish massive crimes, and to use the rule of law to protect their own citizens. The Rome statute has created a vast global coalition that extends beyond states, to including international organization, conflict managers, victims and other members of civil society”.
She added that with Rome Statute we have established a set of rules, with a new legal framework, transparent and predictable, to create certainty of punishment for the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole. The drafters of the Rome Statute clearly recognized the intrinsic link between justice and peace.
The Constitutive Act of the AU provides that the organization shall function consistently with the “condemnation and rejection of impunity” among other principles and – quite extraordinarily – also provides for the right of the AU to intervene in a member state in the event of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.
Bensouda said that “the office of the prosecutor is not involved in political considerations. We have to respect scrupulously our legal limits. Our policy is never to stretch the interpretation of the norms adopted in Rome”.
She affirmed that the court, the prosecutor office has opened investigations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Central African Republic, Darfur, Kenya and Libya. She also added that on June 23, the had opened investigation into crimes committed in Cote d’Ivoire following the November 2010 presidential election run-off between then-president Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara, who was recognized internationally as the winner. Ouattara has asked the ICC for help to investigate crimes committed in Cote d’Ivoire.
“We are prosecuting Thomas Lubanga of for recruiting child soldiers in the DRC. We are prosecuting Germain Katanga and Mathew Ngudjolo for killing and raping civilians in the DRC. We are prosecuting Jean-Pierre Bemba, former presidential opposition candidate in the DRC, for a campaign of rapes and pillages in the CAR. We are prosecuting Joseph Kony and other leaders of the LRA for abducting children and transforming them into sexual slaves and killers in Uganda. We are prosecuting Harun and Kushayb for attacking civilians in villages in Darfur. We are prosecuting Omar Al-Bashir for crimes of rapes, extermination and killing committed against millions of civilians in Darfur”.
She also affirmed that we are prosecuting rebels commanders for attacking AU peacekeepers in Haskanita, Sudan on September 29, 2007. The deputy prosecutor Bensouda justify her statement that “by prosecuting those ho who attack peacekeepers, the court is contributing to African peace efforts and strengthening the protection of peacekeepers around the world”.
We are investigating six individuals allegedly responsible for the election violence in Kenya in 2007-2008. we are investigating attacks against civilians in Libya, making it clear that such attacks could constitute crimes against humanity or even war crimes, and will not tolerated.
The conference was attended by 15 journalists from Botswana and 15 journalists from other African countries as well as heads of government and representatives from the UN and African Union. The conference was organized by Wayamo Communication Foundation and German Federal foreign affairs office.
(ST)