The government of Gambia has followed footmarks by South Africa and Rwanda, becoming the third African country to express its decision on International Criminal Court (ICC).
On Tuesday, Gambia said it was withdrawing from the International Criminal Court, accusing the world body of ignoring the “war crimes” of Western nations and seeking only to prosecute Africans.
The decision by the West African nation, whose president, Yahya Jammeh, has called on the court to investigate African migrant deaths on the Mediterranean, comes just days after South Africa said it was quitting The Hague-based tribunal.
“This action is warranted by the fact that the ICC, despite being called the International Criminal Court, is in fact, an International Caucasian Court for the persecution and humiliation of people of colour, especially Africans,” Information Minister Sheriff Bojang said on state television.
Burundi has already said it plans to leave and Kenya’s parliament is considering following suit.
“There are many Western countries, at least 30, that have committed heinous war crimes against independent sovereign states and their citizens since the creation of the ICC and not a single Western war criminal has been indicted,” statement from Gambia said.
The ICC’s current chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, is Gambian and was as an adviser to Jammeh in the early years of his rule after he seized power in a coup in 1994. She later served as justice minister