Senegal Court case of Former Chad Leader Habre might spell an end to the need for ICC
A special court in the Senegalese capital of Dakar began a long-awaited trial Monday against former Chadian ruler Hissene Habre on charges of torture, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The 72-year-old Habre and his lawyers have dismissed the court as lacking due process and said they would boycott the trial, but they were present Monday after authorities forced their client to appear.
“We consider that this procedure, this court as illegitimate,” Francois Serres, one of Habre’s lawyers, said. “We consider the principle that there is no due process when the investigation has not been conducted fairly.”
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The International Criminal Court should drop or suspend charges against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto until African concerns about the court and proposals to change its founding treaty are considered, African leaders say.
Zimbabwe president calls on Africa to harness resources for its own ends as members urged to tackle infrastructure, climate change, conflict and Ebola Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s 90-year-old president, has assumed the chairmanship of the African Union (AU) with a call for members to improve infrastructure and tackle climate change, conflict and Ebola, and with a familiar rallying cry that Africa’s wealth belongs to Africa and not “imperialists and colonialists”.
Addis Ababa, 3 November 2014: The Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union (AU), Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, today appointed Mr. Edem Kodjo, from Togo, as the AU Special Envoy for Burkina Faso.
Addis Ababa – The African Union has today called for “a lot of support and solidarity from fellow African countries and from the international community” for its member states affected by the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).
June 30th the African Union summit meeting at Equatorial Guinea voted the “Protocol on Amendments to the Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights.” It maintains that while in power, African leaders and “senior officials” are not subject to prosecution for genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity. In principle the Protocol mirrors the judicial realities of Canada and the U.S. which assure our heads of state immunity, but less overtly.
NATO claimed that its intervention in Libya was a historic success. But three years later, Libya is in complete chaos. Some 1700 militias have a combined total of 250,000 men under arms. Another external intervention seems necessary to stabilize the country. But the US and NATO must never be involved
Exactly 20 years ago today, things had fallen apart in Rwanda, for the next 100 days after 7 April, 300 people, mostly Tutsi’s, died per hour. The final tally: about a million dead, rape ruled so did the Machetes.