WHEN news broke that the African Union (AU) was going to hold an extra ordinary summit in Addis Abba, Ethiopia to deliberate on what to do about the continued attack on African leaders by the International Criminal Court (ICC), I must say I smiled a bit.
The reason I smiled was because I felt that this meeting was long overdue.
African leaders have been erratic in treating matters that matter to peace and security on the continent and are often on the defensive instead of being on the offensive.
Better late than never is a typical response by Africa when dealing with issues that require a continental position.
African leaders need to put in place mechanisms that ensure that as a continent, Africa tackles peace and security issues with minimal outside interference in order for the continent to experience any minimal level of peace and security that can encourage poverty alleviation and some modicum of development across the continent.
The divide and conquer tactic has been very much effective in ensuring that African leaders fight among themselves or are suspicious of anyone of them who seems to want to turn the discourse on the continent towards a unity of purpose when dealing with the West.
The late Colonel Gaddafi, eccentric as he was had the correct notion for a United States of Africa, although his was on the deep end, the idea was noble.
It was Gaddafi’s oil dollars that made him palatable to most African leaders and while none opposed him publicly it goes without saying many leaders were afraid to oppose him for fear of antagonising him, but like Nicodemus, would assure their Western counterparts that no real progress would be made in the realisation of a United States of Africa.
Coming back to the summit on ICC, it goes without saying that President Mugabe would find himself in the cross hair of Western human rights groups and their plethora of affiliates on the continent.
President Mugabe is the poster child of a candidate for the ICC because he goes against Western hegemony not only in his rhetoric, but with action.
It is important to understand that Africa has fallen into a rant because one of the major reasons African countries sign and ratify international treaties that have to do with peace and security matter is because of the potential financial aid that the West would inject into their coffers as a ‘reward’ or ‘incentive’.
In many cases developing nations sign and ratify treaties in order to have access to funds that are poured into a body that would administer that protocol or treaty.
The Rome Statute was meant to enable the easier prosecution of individuals charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide, and in 2017 it will begin charging those guilty of the crime of aggression.
While it was not implicitly indicated that becoming party to the Statute would mean a developing country would access financial aid, Western countries indicated that preference to financial aid would be given to those States that took an active role in supporting and playing a part in safeguarding human rights and pledging to ensure international peace and security by ratifying treaties that would bring to justice those guilty of committing crimes against humanity.
America is a signatory to the Rome Statute, but it has not ratified the treaty.
It is disheartening to note that while it was America that orchestrated the Rome Statute, its refusal to ratify the treaty puts it in a precarious position of being a leader of a cause it cannot bring itself to support.
So while America is not bound by the Rome Statute it still has the power to dictate where the ICC casts its eyes through its permanent seat on the United Nations (UN) Security Council.
While the decision to tackle the question of the ICC’s passion to African leaders over others as a continent is noble, the bigger picture has to do with Africans setting parameters to guide the continent on how to tackle issues as one on the international scene.
The first point of call would be to get a permanent seat for the continent on the UN Security Council.
This continued nonsense of being a junior partner not only breeds disharmony, but as witnessed by South Africa’s betrayal in agreeing to military action against Libya and Colonel Gaddafi, leads to a discord and further tensions. Africa is a growing market, its vast resources play an important role in shaping the world and yet as Africans we continue to buy into the Western propaganda that our resources are a curse that causes conflict and the abuse of human rights by our leaders.
Nothing is ever mentioned about the Western vultures that create conflict, destabilising governments and funding opposition parties to overthrow governments in order to get their hands on Africa’s oil, gold, platinum, diamonds, land and other resources for a song at the detriment of the African.
In conclusion, I find the recent statement by South African President Jacob Zuma, calling for the people of Johannesburg not to think like Africans, lacking the vision and ideals that his predecessor Thabo Mbeki had worked to achieve calling for African Unity in order to realise the African Renaissance.