Gambia becomes latest African nation to quit ICC

THE Gambia has become the latest African nation to announce its withdrawal from the International Criminal Court, accusing the war crimes tribunal of persecuting Africans.

The move by the poor West African nation follows similar decisions this month by South Africa and Burundi to abandon the troubled institution, set up to try the world’s worst crimes.

Banjul’s announcement on Tuesday will be a personal blow to The Hague-based tribunal’s chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, a Gambian lawyer and former justice minister.

Gambian Information Minister Sheriff Bojang said on state television that the ICC had been used “for the persecution of Africans and especially their leaders” while ignoring crimes committed by the West. He singled out the case of former British prime minister Tony Blair, who the court decided not to indict over the Iraq war.

“There are many Western countries, at least 30, that have committed heinous war crimes against independent sovereign states and their citizens since the creation of the ICC and not a single Western war criminal has been indicted.” “The ICC, despite being called International Criminal Court, is in fact an International Caucasian Court for the persecution and humiliation of people of colour, especially Africans”.

The ICC, set up in 2002, is often accused of bias against Africa and has also struggled with a lack of cooperation, including from the US, which has signed the court’s treaty but never ratified it. The Gambia has been trying without success to use the court to punish the EU for deaths of thousands of African migrants trying to reach its shores.

The announcement comes just weeks before a December 1 presidential election in The Gambia, which has been ruled by Yahya Jammeh since he took power in a 1994 coup. Rights groups accuse Jammeh of having created a climate of fear and of having quashed any dissent against his regime.