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Kenya

AU hits back at ‘skewed’ world justice with African court

– ‘A step backwards’ –

But rights activists and supporters of international justice say the move is disappointing, ignores the voice of the victims and flies in the face of AU’s core principle of preventing and punishing gross human rights violations – such as genocide in Rwanda, mass rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo and ethnic cleansing in the Central African Republic.

“It’s clearly a step backwards. The constitutive act of the AU was about intervention in crimes against humanity and yet now you have a situation where a serving head of state might not be prosecuted,” said Alex Vines of Britain’s Chatham House.

He warned the immunity clause could alienate international donors who fund the bulk of the pan-African bloc’s peace and security budget.

“Donors will be thinking through what this decision actually means in terms of their partnerships with the African Union,” he said.

Jemima Kariri, senior researcher at South Africa’s Institute for Security Studies, said the decision to grant immunity – which must be green lit by 15 AU member states to come into effect – could also undermine democracy.

“If a sitting president is awarded immunity… they would work as hard as possible to ensure that they remain in power forever,” she said.

Africa is home to some of the world’s longest serving leaders, including Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, in power since 1979, and Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe who has been in office for 34 years.

But Nmehielle said the presumption leaders will cling to power to avoid punishment “has never been tested.”

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“It presupposes that African leaders will always be bad and will always do bad stuff,” he said.

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