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Many African leaders, as well as the AU as a body, have claimed the ICC unfairly targets Africans, while ignoring war crimes suspects in other parts of the world/FILE

Kenya

Africa closes ranks to condemn ‘racist’ ICC on Kenya cases

Human Rights Watch warned that calls for domestic trials “should fool no one as to the prospects for meaningful justice in Kenya” and that efforts should continue “to press Kenya to put politics aside and let the ICC’s cases run their independent judicial course.”

Both Kenyatta and Ruto deny the charges and have agreed to cooperate fully with the ICC.

At the summit meeting, leaders also tried to tackle conflict on the continent, including in volatile eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, tensions between Sudan and South Sudan, Islamist threats in Somalia, Mali and the Sahel region, and wider global security concerns.

The AU also announced it would set up an emergency military force to rapidly quell conflict on the continent, amid frustration that a planned peacekeeping force was still not operational after a decade.

The AU’s “African Standby Brigade” to intervene in sudden crises – a proposed force of 32,500 troops and civilians drawn from five regions of the continent – has made little headway since preparations for it started a decade ago.

South Africa, Uganda and Ethiopia have pledged troops to the proposed force, an interim measure until the main brigade is completed, Lamamra said.

Funding issues were also addressed, after the death of key backer Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with Hailemariam saying members of the cash-strapped body should “be prepared to make sacrifices”.

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