Gambia to remain in ICC

GAMBIA’S new government has asked the United Nations to halt the process of withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC) begun by the regime of former leader Yahya Jammeh.

The Hague-based court, set up in 2002, is often accused of bias against African nations, leading Gambia, Burundi and South Africa to send notice last year they would no longer recognise the ICC’s jurisdiction.

“The government of Gambia has notified Antonio Guterres [UN secretary-general] in his capacity as depository of the Rome Statue of its decision to discontinue the withdrawal notice,” a statement issued by the government said.

New president Adama Barrow had promised during his December election campaign to rejoin the ICC and the Commonwealth, reversing Jammeh’s more insular foreign policy.

Former Gambian information minister Sheriff Bojang had accused the ICC of being used for the persecution of Africans and especially their leaders, while ignoring crimes committed by the West.

Currently nine out of the ICC’s 10 investigations concern African countries, the other being Georgia.

However, experts point out that many of the current investigations – in the Central African Republic, Uganda, Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo – were referred to the ICC by the governments of those states.