Top diplomats are expected to request the United Nations Security Council Thursday to put off cases against African leaders at the International Criminal Court and suspend decisions already taken against them.
In 2013, the African leaders rejected the ICC decision to have Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta appear for his trial, at The Hague, demanding instead an adjournment. Later in 2014, Uhuru decided to attend the ICC status conference.
During the AU summit in February this year following his election as the African Union Chairman, the Chadian President Idriss Deby criticised the ICC saying it only focuses on African leaders.
“Elsewhere in the world, many things happen, many flagrant violations of human rights, but nobody cares,” Deby said at the close of the African summit.
However the summit didn’t take a decision to withdraw collectively from The Hague based court saying it is up to every state to take the appropriate decision.
However, the Kenyan presidency issued a statement saying that the summit decided “to develop a road map for the withdrawal of African nations”.
Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary, Amina Mohammed and her Sudanese counterpart Ibrahim Ghandour will be part of a seven- African minister committee formed by the African Union Peace and Security Council last January to explain the position of the regional body from the war crimes court.
The other committee members are Algeria, Nigeria, South Africa and Rwanda.
