Rwanda’s Paul Kagame and Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir have agreed to jointly confront the International Criminal Court (ICC), accusing it of bias against African leaders.
The agreement was reached at talks between the two countries, held in Kharthoum.
President Kagame who arrived in the Sudanese capital for a two-day visit stressed that the African Union’s position was against the ICC, stating that the continent’s leaders were victims of its biased justice
We have also talked about the International Criminal Court and I can say our opposition has been very clear,” President Kagame emphasised.
In his part, President Bashir commended Rwanda’s position which seeks to protect Sudan and other African nations from what he called the “international agenda” adding that there should be better coordination between the African governments to implement the AU stance on the ICC.
The ICC issued two arrest warrants against al-Bashir in 2009 and 2010 for alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed in Darfur. He is the first sitting head of state charged by the Hague-based court since its inception in 2002.
Sudan, which is not a state member of Rome Statute of the ICC, has been campaigning for an African withdrawal from the court.
Rwanda is not a state party to the tribunal of war crimes but has the obligation as a member of the United Nations to cooperate with the court. However, like many other African capitals, Kigali is critical to ICC and to its focus on Africa.
In 2008, President Kagame called the ICC a “fraudulent institution “that is “made for Africans and poor countries” who did not realize what they were signing up for when they ratified the Rome Statute.
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