Category: Politics

{The Burundian parliament’s motion on October 13 to withdraw from the International Criminal Court has elicited criticism and condemnation from civil society.
}

A coalition of Burundian civil society organisations has termed the move a ploy by the government to evade scrutiny. Another civil society organisation — Coalition for the International Criminal Court — said the withdrawal was an exercise in futility.

“This is a clear move orchestrated by the government to guard itself against external scrutiny and to protect its leaders who commit atrocities,” said Lambert Nigarura, chairperson of the coalition and legal representative for Coalition for the ICC.

“What happened in the country was people killing each other. The Bill for Burundi to quit the Rome Statute could encourage Burundians to continue killing each other,” said Banciryanino Fabien, one of the two MPs who opposed the motion.

Burundi’s parliament voted to withdraw from the Rome Statute, which it signed in September 2004.

The Senate voted unanimously to pass the Bill, which now awaits President Pierre Nkurunziza’s assent. However, it will take one year for the process to be concluded.

Minister for Justice Laurentine Kanyana said the country did not need the ICC. As a sovereign state, he said, Burundi is willing to promote and protect the human rights of its citizens.

Burundi is not the first African country to withdraw from the International Criminal Court. In September 2013, the Kenyan parliament voted for the country to withdraw from the ICC, but three years on, Kenya is still a state party to the Rome Statute.

In addition, some African countries had announced their intention of withdraw from the court with South Africa hinting at ending its ICC membership.

This came after Pretoria failed to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir during his visit to the African Union Summit in Johannesburg. President al-Bashir is being sought by ICC over crimes against humanity charges.

Burundi’s case, however, has raised questions on the timing of the government to withdraw from the court six months after ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda launched preliminary investigations into the crimes that were committed since last year when protests erupted against President Nkurunziza’s decision to seek another term.

The decision to withdraw from the ICC comes a few days after the government suspended its co-operation with the UN High Commission for Human Rights and declared its investigators unwanted.

The UN had released a report that cited systematic killings, torture and arbitrary arrests that have been conducted by the Burundi authorities and the ruling party youth wing Imbonerakure.

{Opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye was on Saturday arrested as he tried to leave his home in Kasangati, Wakiso District.}

Shortly before his arrest, Dr Besigye, as usual had a heated verbal exchange with Mr Robert Kachumu, the DPC Kasangati police station.

Mr Kachumu asked Besigye where he was going but he refused to disclose, insisting that like any other citizen, he has a right to go anywhere he wants without being questioned.

Dr Besigye is being detained at Nagalama Police Station in Mukono District.

The former Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) presidential candidate’s arrest comes just hours after a group of members of the Opposition told journalists at his home that they plan to petition parliament over his continued house arrest.

Opposition Members of Parliament led by Mukono Municipality MP, Ms Betty Nambooze and a group of lawyers led by Ladislous Rwakafuzi said they plan recall parliament from the month long recess to discuss Dr Besigye’s continued harassment by the police.

Addressing journalists, Nambooze said the continued detention of Dr Besigye and the heavy deployment of police at his home was is illegal.

“Next week, we are going to look for draft a petition and signatures from MPs to recall Parliament to discuss the continued detention of Besigye,” Said Ms Nambooze.

According to Nambooze, the petition will be ready on Monday and on Tuesday, they will start collecting signatures from MPs to recall parliament.

“We want government to tell the country why Besigye is still under house arrest, who is responsible for the police officers at his home and who is supposed to pay his bills among other issues,” she added.

The United Kingdom said on Thursday it backs targeted European Union sanctions against officials in Democratic Republic of Congo to end government repression and encourage a peaceful transition of power.

Dozens of people have died in clashes between security forces and protesters angered by what opposition groups say is President Joseph Kabila’s plan to postpone a November vote and stay in office beyond his two-term limit.

Kabila’s government has said the election must be postponed because of logistical problems.

The United States has already imposed sanctions on a general as well as former and current senior police officials, but Europe has been divided. France has said it is time to consider imposing EU sanctions.

“The UK believes sanctions would play a useful role in influencing the DRC Government and security forces to desist from human rights abuses and suppression of fundamental freedoms,” a spokesperson for the U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office said in an email.

“We cannot stand by and watch violence, such as that on 19 September, continue and not take action.”

Officials in Congo, a former Belgian colony, are thought to hold most of their assets in Europe. Human Rights Watch on Thursday urged the EU to impose sanctions, saying that it could help prevent a broader crisis.

The vast, mineral-rich central African state has never experienced a peaceful transition of power. The United Nations said this week that the current crisis poses a great risk to the country’s stability and is likely to spark large-scale violence.

Lawmakers in Burundi overwhelmingly voted Wednesday in support of a plan to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, something no country has ever done.

The decision escalates a bitter dispute with the international community over the human rights situation in the East African country, which has seen more than a year of deadly violence after President Pierre Nkurunziza made a controversial decision to pursue a third term.

No state has withdrawn from the ICC, according to the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, a nonprofit that supports the court’s work. The court prosecutes cases of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“We are very alarmed about the trajectory the country is taking,” the U.N. human rights chief, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, said.

Ninety-four out of 110 Burundi lawmakers voted in favor of the withdrawal plan, months after the ICC announced it would investigate the country’s ongoing violence.

The decision, which also was unanimously adopted by the Senate, now needs the president’s approval.

U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, said withdrawing from the ICC would “isolate Burundi from its neighbors and the international community at a time when accountability, transparency and engaged dialogue are most needed.”

Some African countries have threatened a withdrawal from the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the ICC, accusing the court of disproportionately targeting the continent.

Only Africans have been charged in the six cases that are ongoing or about to begin, though preliminary ICC investigations have been opened elsewhere in the world.

“Burundi civil society is clear that their government is withdrawing from democracy, human rights and the rule of law, not the ICC,” said William R. Pace, convenor of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court. He added that “African governments overwhelmingly voted for and ratified the ICC treaty, stating that they did not want a repeat of the Rwandan genocide, where there was a breakdown in the rule of law and justice.”

Of the 124 countries that are parties to the Rome Statute, 34 are African, the largest continental bloc. The United States is not a party to the treaty.

Burundi’s decision is not immediate. Observers say a county wishing to withdraw from the ICC must write to the U.N. secretary-general stating its intention, and the withdrawal takes effect a year after the day the secretary-general receives the letter.

No such letter had yet been received, said the spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, Stephane Dujarric. He pointed out that Burundi still would have to cooperate with any ICC proceedings that begin before the withdrawal takes effect.

Vital Nshimirimana, a Burundian rights activist, urged the U.N. to challenge the government’s decision.

“Already, we have information that intelligence agents are torturing, killing Burundians behind closed doors,” he said. “The world ought to rescue the people of Burundi.”

Burundi’s government has repeatedly said it is the victim of propaganda by exiles and opponents who want to diminish its credibility.

Hundreds have died in Burundi since Nkurunziza last year pursued and won a third term that many call unconstitutional. Since the ruling party announced his candidacy in April 2015, Burundi has seen violent street protests, forced disappearances and assassinations. More than 260,000 have fled.

On Monday, Burundi’s government banned three U.N. human rights investigators from entering the country following the release of a report that cited massive rights violations allegedly perpetrated by security agencies.

The push among some African countries to withdraw from ICC began after the court indicted Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on charges of crimes against humanity for 2007 post-election violence in which more than 1,000 died. The ICC prosecutor said threats to witnesses, bribery and lack of cooperation by Kenya’s government led to the case’s collapse.

Some countries want a separate African court with jurisdiction over rights abuses.

{The Democratic Republic of Congo is at “extreme risk” of descending into widespread violence, the UN Security Council has been warned.}

UN envoy Maman Sidikou said threats to the 18,000-strong peacekeeping mission there outstripped its capabilities.

Violent protests have broken out over the postponement of presidential polls.

The opposition accuses President Joseph Kabila of trying to cling to power beyond the end of his term, which is due to expire in December.

Dozens of people died in anti-government violence in the capital Kinshasa last month after the electoral commission said it could not hold polls in November.

The headquarters of three opposition parties were also attacked and burned down.

“Actors on all sides appear more and more willing to resort to violence to achieve their ends,” Mr Sidikou, head of the UN peacekeeping mission known as Monusco, told the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

“While Monusco will do everything it can within its mandate to protect civilians, the scope of the threats dramatically outstrip the mission’s capabilities.”

He added: “The Democratic Republic of Congo has entered a period of extreme risk to its stability. The coming period will certainly be extremely difficult, the tipping point in the serious violence could be reached very quickly.”

DR Congo has never had a smooth transfer of power since independence more than 55 years ago.

Mr Kabila took power in 2001 following the assassination of his father, Laurent Kabila, and the constitution bars him from running for office again.

Last month, the US imposed sanctions on two senior security officials allied to President Kabila.

It accused army Gen Gabriel Amisi Kumba and John Numbi, a former police chief, of threatening the country’s stability by suppressing the opposition.

A government-backed effort to work out a solution to the political crisis, called a “national dialogue”, has been boycotted by most opposition parties.