Uhuru urges AU to insist on Ruto case termination

  

President Uhuru Kenyatta. He has launched a push to revive the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). FILE PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE   

By MUGAMBI MUTEGI

The African Union (AU) has adopted a proposal by President Uhuru Kenyatta to develop a roadmap for withdrawal from the Rome Statute even as he reiterated that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has become “dysfunctional.”

President Kenyatta, who was addressing African leaders at the AU Summit in Addis Ababa on Sunday, urged them to insist on the termination of the ongoing crimes against humanity case against his deputy, William Ruto.

He renewed his position that the ICC had not lived up to its mandate and that Mr Ruto was being tried based on “weak cases….pursued with politicised zeal.”

Reform

He asked the AU not to relent in its quest to reform the ICC, including aligning the court to the norms of international law that guarantee immunity to heads of state.

In case ICC reforms are not achieved, he said, the AU should withdraw from the Rome Statute since its continued involvement would be tantamount to “shoring up a dysfunctional instrument.”

“I therefore urge you to adopt the resolutions of the ministerial committee on ICC and include a new mandate to develop a roadmap for withdrawal from the Rome Statute as necessary,” the President said.

“We must reaffirm that the global standard for the immunity for heads of state should apply to Africa and insist on the termination of the collapsed case against the deputy president of Kenya, ” he said.