AU stresses home grown solution to conflicts for ICC's unfair treatment

Africans should strengthen the integrity and capacity of their national and continental judicial system, including the African Court on Human and People's Rights, due to unfair treatment by ICC, said Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission. The Chairperson made the remarks at the opening of the Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of AU Heads of States and Governments on Saturday at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Heads of States have met in Addis Ababa to deliberate on issues related to the International Criminal Court (ICC), under the theme, "Africa's Relationship with the ICC." "AU remains of the view that the promotion of international justice, the rejecting of impunity and the fight against violations of human rights must go hand in hand with the promotion of peace, security, democracy, reconciliation, inclusion and stability," Dlamini-Zuma said. She said African continent and the AU remain committed to the system of international justice and action against impunity. "We should however do more to strengthen the integrity and capacity of our national and continental Judicial system, including the African Court on Human and People's Rights, so that the ICC indeed becomes the Court of last instance, as intended in the Rome Statutes and in pursuit of African people's demand for our justice, reconciliation and respect of their human rights and dignity," said the Chairperson. Hailemariam Desalegn, Ethiopian Prime Minister, who is also current Chairperson of the African Union, noted that democracy, rule of law and respect for human rights are imperative for peace and stability as well as socio-economic development of Africa. "We in Africa have made it emphatically clear that democracy, rule of law and respect for human rights are imperative for our peace and stability as well as socio-economic development," said Hailemariam. "Our commitment to these fundamental values is not merely to please our partners. It is borne out of our strong conviction, which emanated from our own political history and the desire to find home-grown solutions to the myriad of problems confronting us, " she added. "One of the far reaching decisions that we have made in the transformation of the OAU to the AU, as part of our efforts to promote democracy, rule of law and respect for human rights, is our collective resolve to fighting impunity in all its forms and manifestations." Hailemaraim said unfair treatment that Africans have been subjected to by the ICC is completely unacceptable. "On a number of occasions, we have dealt with the issue of the ICC and expressed our serious concern over the manner in which the ICC has been responding to Africa's considerations," she said. "Once again, I would like to note that Africa has and never will support impunity of leaders who willfully murder their own people," she said. "It is regrettable that the numerous proposals that we have presented within the framework of the Rome Statute to address these issues have been totally ignored. Past experiences in our continent and elsewhere amply demonstrate the need to balance justice and reconciliation in complex conflict situations. It is in light of this fact that we have been insisting on the importance of finding home-grown solutions to some of the intractable conflicts in our continent," he said.