Wednesday 16 October 2013

RE: [wanabidii] Why Africa Should Not leave ICC - Desmond Tutu

I agree entirely with Bishop Tutu. I said as much in an interview  last Monday morning 14 October 2013  with Namibia Broadcasting Corporation in Windhoek  when interviewed by phone in  Bukoba   in Tanzania where I reside  on one of their breakfast shows this . I wrote  similar views in a column article  in  Tanzania's The Citizen  newspaper on Wednesday 2nd October 2013 whose contents I am posting here for those who did / cannot access the paper: 
 
 
 
Thinking Critically: Terrorism, ICC and governance deficits
 
by Azaveli  Feza Lwaitama in The Citizen Tanzania Wednesday October 2 2013 
 

September 11, 2001 is marked worldwide as the date on which one of the most unusual and devastating terrorist attacks of the 21st century took place. Four passenger aeroplanes were said to have been hijacked by 19 alleged Al-Qaeda terrorists who then allegedly flew them into the World Trade Centre complex in New York City.


Twelve years and ten days later, on September 21, 2013, another daring and bloody terror attack was unleashed on unsuspecting shoppers who happened to be inside an ultra-modern shopping complex in Nairobi, Kenya. It is alleged that an as yet unidentified number armed individuals attacked the prestigious Westgate mall and held their ground in the complex for almost three days resulting in the cold blooded murder of 72 people – 61 civilians, six Kenyan soldiers and five of the alleged attackers.


Once more the issue of fighting terrorism is a focus of attention in international relations. Questions are again being asked as to what is the essence of these terror attacks and how can humanity stop them from ever happening again. For it clear that most of us can agree on what terrorism is – the indiscriminate killing of individuals happening to be in a particular location at the time of the attack and whereby the person attacked had no way of knowing that such an attack would happen at that place and at that time!


A terrorist attack is not difficult to identify from other kinds of violent intrusions into peoples' lives. In a terrorist attack, the victim is unjustly targeted by perpetrators in that the victim is not given any warning to the effect that one should not be in a particular place at a particular time.


All armed attacks on human beings lead to human death and injury but terrorist attacks are those that target individuals who have no way of knowing that they had a dispute with the person seeking to hurt them and these innocent individuals do not see themselves as playing a role that could be deemed directly meant to hurt the interests of the terrorist attacker.


If the American government, for example, supports the settler colonialist state of Israel, it will be unjust for some angry Palestinian Arab and Muslim youth to throw a grenade into a packed restaurant at lunch hour in New York in the US even if some of its customers often are American soldiers.


This is because logic suggests that such a grenade may kill an American civilian who may actually be a militant supporter of the cause of self-determination for Palestine's Arab Muslims in occupied Jerusalem.


One can say the same of a Somali Muslim believer happening to belong to Somali anti-foreign forces' fighters who think the Kenya Defence Forces have been meting out indiscriminate violence against Somali Al-Shabaab fighters who some Somalis may consider to be freedom fighters.


Such a Somali militant may be forgiven for attacking a military outpost and killing Kenyan armed services personnel but his or her actions will be rightly judged as terrorist if they led to the mowing down of shoppers in mall whose customers are known NOT to be exclusively Kenyan armed service personnel, and if it is known that it is often packed with civilians from all walks of life and from all nationalities in the world.


The irony of Nairobi's Wastage mall terror attack is that the government of Kenya is led by individuals at the highest level who themselves are facing indictment at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague for allegedly having committed crimes against humanity, which are in many ways terrorist offences, during the post-election violence that engulfed Kenya from December 2007 to early 2008.


It was democratic governance deficits in the Arab world and in Somalia in particular that acted as an incubator for the emergence of extremist Islamic militant groups in the Middle East and Afghanistan.


Success in the fight against terrorism can only result from successfully addressing democratic governance deficits in Africa and in the entire Muslim world as well as promoting international human rights thinking among our leaders, based on adherence to international human rights instruments including organs that are meant to enforce adherence to such international human rights standards.


It is absurd that at this moment in world history, the AU is busy disparaging the work of the ICC and yet appealing to the international community for support in fighting against home grown human rights violators-cum-terror groups like Al-Shabaab.

 

Mwl. Lwaitama


 

From: hmrema11@hotmail.com
To: wanabidii@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [wanabidii] Why Africa Should Not leave ICC - Desmond Tutu
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 11:03:04 +0000

Mr. Abdallah Hamis

The fact that the African Heads of States passed a resolution to protect three people, Bashir, Ruto and Kenyatta and sacrifieced Sang to be tried shows that they will do everything, at expense of everybody to get to power and remain in power.  This is not acceptable  by a civilized society, those days are gone and we should not allow them.  Remember whether they like it or not Power belong to the People even when they acquire it by force one day they will surrender it and face the consequences.  How can Africans trust such leaders?

Herment


Date: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 02:10:22 -0700
From: petermakatu@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: [wanabidii] Why Africa Should Not leave ICC - Desmond Tutu
To: wanabidii@googlegroups.com

We all know how the Hague issue started. It all started in Kenya parliament during Kibaki+Odinga's time. Kenya MPs rejected a bill to form a local tribunal that would handled the cases locally. Today the same people are fighting ICC. They are now using AU to fight it. Shame upon them.
Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android
an

From: Abdalah Hamis <hamisznz@gmail.com>;
To: Wanabidii <wanabidii@googlegroups.com>;
Subject: Re: [wanabidii] Why Africa Should Not leave ICC - Desmond Tutu
Sent: Wed, Oct 16, 2013 8:57:37 AM

Can Kenya surrender its  judicial sovereignty to 3rd party ? Don't they ( Kenyans / Africans ) trust their own judicial system ? 


On Wed, Oct 16, 2013 at 12:29 AM, Mburi Eric <ewabwaya@hotmail.com> wrote:
Well put.
All those despots who sat in Addis are believers in clinging to power while killing their opponents

Nyakwar Mburi



Date: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 00:03:14 -0700
From: evansmachera@yahoo.com
Subject: [wanabidii] Why Africa Should Not leave ICC - Desmond Tutu
To: africa-oped@yahoogroups.com; bungelamwanainchi@yahoo.com; mwanyagetinge@yahoogroups.com; Kiswahili@yahoogroups.com; uchunguzionline@yahoogroups.com; wanakenya@googlegroups.com; wanabidii@googlegroups.com; wanabidii@googlegroups.com; wananchi@yahoogroups.com


Why Africa Should Not leave ICC - Desmond Tutu

African leaders behind the move to extract the continent from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court are effectively seeking a licence to kill, maim and oppress their people without consequences. They are saying that African leaders should not allow the interests of the people to get in the way of their personal ambitions. Being held to account interferes with their ability to act with impunity to achieve their objectives. Those who get in their way – their victims – should remain faceless and voiceless.

They are arguing that the golden rule of reciprocity – do unto others as you would have them do to you – should not apply to them. And nor should any legal system.

But they know that they cannot say these things in public, so they say that the ICC is racist.

At first glance, when one tallies the number of African leaders versus European and North American leaders prosecuted by the court, their argument appears as if it might be plausible. When one considers the facts, however, one quickly realises that the number of Africans put on trial is an indictment of leadership and democracy in some African countries, not of the ICC.

Africa has suffered the consequences of unaccountable leaders for too long to allow itself to be hoodwinked in this manner.

When thousands of people are murdered and displaced in any country, one would hope, in the first instance, that that country's own systems of justice and fairness would kick in to right the wrongs.

But when that country is unwilling or unable to restore justice, who should represent the interests of the victims? Those behind the call to extract Africa from the ICC say: Nobody.

Those accused of crimes proclaim their innocence and vilify the institution as racist and unjust, as Hermann Göring and his comrades vilified the Nuremberg Court that put Nazi leaders on trial following World War II. The eight matters brought before the ICC were without exception initiated by African countries and their leaders. There was no witch-hunt or imposition, the judges and investigators were invited in.

So, while the rhetoric of leaders at the African Union may play both the race and colonial cards, the facts are clear. Far from being a so-called "White man's witch hunt", the ICC could not be more African if it tried. More than 20 African countries helped to found the ICC.

Of the 108 nations that initially joined the ICC, 30 are in Africa. Five of the court's 18 judges are African, as is the Vice-President of the court. The Chief Prosecutor of the court, who has huge power over which cases are brought forward, is from Africa. The ICC is, quite literally, Africa's court.

Leaving the ICC would be a tragedy for Africa for three clear reasons.

First, without justice, countries can attack their neighbours or minorities in their own countries with impunity. Two years ago, when the warlord, Thomas Lubunga, was arrested to face charges of enlisting and conscripting child soldiers, the threat of the ICC undermined his support from other militias. In Cote D'Ivoire, since Laurent Gbagbo was taken to face justice in The Hague, the country has been able to rebuild. Without this court, there would be no brake on the worst excesses of these criminals. And these violent leaders continue to plague Africa: The Great Lakes, Mali, northern Nigeria and Egypt all give reason for concern. Perpetrators of violence must not be allowed to wriggle free.

Second, without justice there can be no peace. In South Africa, the scars of apartheid are still deep and painful and it has taken a long process of truth and reconciliation for these wounds to begin to heal. In Kenya, the rioting and killing across the Rift Valley will take a long time to resolve. Put simply, where justice and order are not restored, there can be no healing, leaving violence and hatred ticking like a bomb in the corner.

Third, as Africa finds its voice in world affairs, it should be strengthening justice and the rule of law, not undermining them. Everyone has a duty to adhere to these principles; they are part of global collective responsibility, not a menu we can choose from as and when it suits us.

Right now, thousands of people from across the planet are joining a campaign hosted by Avaaz, an international advocacy organisation, calling on Africa's leaders to stay in the ICC and stand behind international justice and what it means for so many vulnerable citizens everywhere. They represent our global commitment to working together to make the future brighter and safer for the next generations. The alternatives are far too painful: revenge, like what happened in Rwanda, Kosovo, Bosnia; or a blanket amnesty, a national commitment to amnesia like what happened in Chile. The only way any country can deal with its past is to confront it.

We need loud voices in Addis Ababa to deliver the message of the world's people, to shout down those that want us to do nothing. At the front, we need the heavyweight champions of Africa –Nigeria and South Africa – to exercise their leadership and stop those that don't like the rules from attempting to re-write them. If Africa's democracies truly believe in justice and the rule of law, they must stand up against this attempt by their least democratic brothers and sisters to undermine those values.

This Friday's meeting is a contest between justice and injustice. Far from a fight between Africa and the West, this is a fight within Africa, for the soul of the continent.

May righteous Africans raise their voices and affirm the ICC and the rule of law.

• Desmond Tutu is a former Archbishop of Cape Town. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his contribution to opposing apartheid.

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