President Uhuru Kenyatta attends the opening of the 24th Ordinary
Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African
Union in Addis Ababa Ethiopia on January 30, 2015. PHOTO | PSCU
ADDIS ABABA
Kenya’s bid for an African court to hear cases of crimes against humanity has received the backing of Mauritania.
Mauritanian
President Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz said formation of an African version
of the International Criminal Court is the way to go.
President
Abdelaziz who is also the outgoing African Union (AU) chairman termed
dropping of charges against President Uhuru Kenyatta by the ICC as
victory for Africa.
He spoke during the 24th Ordinary
Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the AU in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Friday.
“We need to
operationalise the African Court of Justice so it can take up such
cases,” said President Abdelaziz who later handed the AU chairmanship to
Zimbwabe’s Robert Mugabe.
Last year, the AU resolved that no sitting president should be prosecuted by the ICC.
However,
Kenya remains the only country that has so far signed the protocol
adopted at last year’s AU Summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.
The
Summit’s position on the ICC and the establishment of an African court
with an expanded mandate will be known today when the resolutions will
be read out.
Kenya was expected to lobby more countries
to sign the protocol to expand the mandate of the African Court of
Justice during the Friday afternoon session of heads of state and
government and foreign affairs ministers.
The protocol
must be ratified by at least 15 member states to become effective.
Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed signed the protocol on
Wednesday ahead of possible ratification by Parliament.
And
given that AU treaties take an average five years to come into force,
Kenya will need to work harder to get the support of 14 other countries
to ratify the protocol.
Some 12 MPs in the Kenyan delegation are helping in the lobbying.
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