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Namibia's Cabinet says country must leave ICC

Xinhua, November 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

Namibia has become the latest African country to consider withdrawing from the International Criminal Court (ICC) following a cabinet decision taken last week.

Namibia became a member of the ICC after signing the Rome Statute in 2002.

Addressing the media Monday on outcomes of the Cabinet meeting, information minister Tjekero Tweya said the international relations ministry has been asked to look into the matter.

Tweya said Cabinet was affirming the stance taken by the ruling party Swapo to withdraw from the ICC.

He also said the decision to affirm the withdrawal from the ICC was taken after the meeting in October between President Hage Geingob and the former Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete.

Tweya did not give a deadline as to when the decision will be implemented.

Other countries that have mulled withdrawing from the ICC are Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Sudan, Zimbabwe and Uganda.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has even threatened to mobilize African leaders to pull-out of the ICC which he accused of targeting leaders on the continent.

In his address during the Jamhuri Day in Nairobi last year, Museveni said the ICC was being used as a 'tool to target' the target.

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has also spoken strongly against the ICC which he said was not wanted in Africa.

Speaking at the close of the African Union Summit in South Africa in June this year, Mugabe said Africa is not the headquarters of the ICC. "We don't want it in this region at all," said Mugabe.

In fact, the AU has been showing anti-ICC sentiments for sometime and has passed a number of declarations to shield sitting African president from being dragged before the ICC.

In 2010, the AU declared that they would not cooperate with the ICC in arresting Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir over alleged atrocities committed in the Darfur.

When Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto were indicted by the ICC in 2011, the AU declared immunity for sitting heads of state.

The AU came up with the Malabo Protocol in 2014 to allow the African Court to investigate and prosecute international crimes. Enditem