Deputy ICC prosecutor Ms. Fatou Bensouda speaking to press in Botswana [©Gurtong]
By Gabriel Mayom
RUMBEK, 27th July, 2011 [Gurtong] - The Deputy Chief Prosecutor for International Criminal Court (ICC) Ms. Fatou Bensouda stated early this month that each State member to the court have an obligation to arrest suspected heads of States charged with genocide and crime against humanity.
Ms. Fatou was speaking during the International Media conference, organized by Wayamo Communication Foundation and German Federal Foreign affairs office that was held in Gaborone from July 4, to 15 under the theme “Do immunity rights, peace negotiations and national amnesty laws contradict international criminal law.”
The conference was attended by 15 local journalists from Botswana and 15 senior journalists from other African countries. Heads of government and UN representatives including African Union members were also present.
ICC has so far issued warrants of arrest seeking to trail 25 persons in African countries who are alleged for war crime and crime against humanity as well as genocide. The court had issued several warrants of arrest for four people in Sudan, Darfur including President Omar Al-Bashir, Ahmed Harun, Ali Kushayb, and two rebel leaders comprised of Abdalla Banda and Seleh Jerbo. In Central African Republic, (CAR), Jean-Pierre Bemba, the leader of MLC who is now on trail.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has 5 people most wanted composed of Thomas Lubanga, Bosco Ntaganda, Germain Katanga, Mathew Ngudjolo and Callixte Mbarushimana. Three among the suspected leaders -Mr. Germain, Mathew and Thomas are on trail while Mr. Callixte has been apprehended as well as Bosco.
In Uganda, the ICC is seeking Joseph Kony, Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo, Raska Luwiya and Dominic Ongwen to be arrested but none these suspects have appeared before the court. However, among the five suspects, two are deceased, Vincent Otti and Rask Lukwiya according to the court reports.
In Kenya, 6 people wanted by the ICC comprise of Mr. Francis Muthaura (Head of Public Service), Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta (Deputy Prime Minister), Mohammed Hussein Ali (Former Police Boss), William Samoei Ruto (MP), Henry Kiprono Kosgey (MP) and Joshua Arap Sang (Radio Presenter). All these suspected people in Kenya are charged for being masterminds of the post election violence in Kenya. All the six appeared before the court in the first mention.
The current case on the ICC desk is the Libyan issue. Three key Libyan leaders comprised of President Muammar Mahamed Abu who is well-known as Colonel Mummar Gadaffi, his son Saif Al-Islam Gadaffi and Abdullah Al-Sennussi. The three leaders are charged for using violence in Libya during popular uprising for regime change.
African leaders complained that the ICC was targeting them; that the court managed to arrest few African leaders and they have been justifying this decision by arresting most leaders, while claiming that they will not allow them to kill their own people.
Ms. Fatou Bensouda clarified 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 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 include international organization, conflict managers, victims and other members of civil societies.”
She added that with the Rome Statute, they 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.
Ms. Fatou 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 23rd, 2011, they 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 killings committed against millions of civilians in Darfur”.
She also affirmed that they were prosecuting rebels’ commanders for attacking AU peacekeepers in Haskanita, Sudan on September 29, 2007. The deputy prosecutor Bensouda justified her statement that, “by prosecuting those who attack peacekeepers, the court is contributing to African peace efforts and strengthening the protection of peacekeepers around the world”.
“We are also investigating six individuals allegedly responsible for the post election violence in Kenya in between 2007 and 2008,” she said and added that, “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 be tolerated.”