₦airaland Forum

The military-led West African nations of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger on Monday announced their withdrawal from the International Criminal Court, branding it a “neo-colonial” imperialist tool.

The juntas which took over in Bamako, Ouagadougou and Niamey after coups between 2020 and 2023 have since allied themselves in a confederation called the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) and distanced themselves from the West, notably from former colonial ruler France.

The court, based in The Hague, was “an instrument of neo-colonialist repression in the hands of imperialism,” the three countries said in a joint statement.

“The ICC has proven itself incapable of handling and prosecuting proven war crimes, crimes against humanity, crimes of genocide, and crimes of aggression,” they said.

The three states also said they wanted to create “indigenous mechanisms for the consolidation of peace and justice”.

A state’s withdrawal only takes effect one year after the official submission of the case to the UN General Secretariat.

Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have notably drawn closer to countries such as Russia, whose President Vladimir Putin has been the subject of an ICC arrest warrant since March 2023 over the war in Ukraine.

The West African countries are facing deadly violence from jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, but their armies are also accused of crimes against civilians.

Founded in 2002, the International Criminal Court’s mission is to prosecute the perpetrators of the most serious crimes, such as war crimes, when countries lack the will or capacity to do so themselves.

Freshtruth:
This Burkina Faso is over doing things the white man hasn't really been bad to us

owobokiri:
This same court that used a French judge to rule that Bakassi Peninsula belongs to Cameroon instead of Nigeria, thereby handing over an area inhabited by Nigerians that is extremely rich in hydrocarbons to a former French colony, only for French Oil Majors to start oil explorations in this area immediately after...

A perfect tool in the hands of neo colonialists. Why are Nigerians not pressuring their government to follow suit and renounce this highly compromised court? Millions of Iraqis, Afghanistanis, Libyans, Syrians, Congolese, Iranians, Pakistanis, Venezuelans and co, killed by forces aligned to NATO, yet none of the western perpetrators of these crimes is before the ICC for any charges. It is always the citizens/rulers of the developing world ..

What is Nigeria still doing as a member?

SmartPolician:
Africa has the worst leaders in this world. Just imagine what Paul Biya is doing in Cameroon. The citizens of those 3 countries should take to the streets in protests that they be returned to the ICC. African leaders should be conscious that they will be punished for their evil deeds. If not, those people are capable of selling off an entire country.

owobokiri:
This same court that used a French judge to rule that Bakassi Peninsula belongs to Cameroon instead of Nigeria, thereby handing over an area inhabited by Nigerians that is extremely rich in hydrocarbons to a former French colony, only for French Oil Majors to start oil explorations in this area immediately after...

A perfect tool in the hands of neo colonialists. Why are Nigerians not pressuring their government to follow suit and renounce this highly compromised court? Millions of Iraqis, Afghanistanis, Libyans, Syrians, Congolese, Iranians, Pakistanis, Venezuelans and co, killed by forces aligned to NATO, yet none of the western perpetrators of these crimes is before the ICC for any charges. It is always the citizens/rulers of the developing world ..

What is Nigeria still doing as a member?

SmartPolician:
Africa has the worst leaders in this world. Just imagine what Paul Biya is doing in Cameroon. The citizens of those 3 countries should take to the streets in protests that they be returned to the ICC.

African leaders should be conscious that they will be punished for their evil deeds. If not, those people are capable of selling off an entire country.

owobokiri:
This same court that used a French judge to rule that Bakassi Peninsula belongs to Cameroon instead of Nigeria, thereby handing over an area inhabited by Nigerians that is extremely rich in hydrocarbons to a former French colony, only for French Oil Majors to start oil explorations in this area immediately after...

A perfect tool in the hands of neo colonialists. Why are Nigerians not pressuring their government to follow suit and renounce this highly compromised court? Millions of Iraqis, Afghanistanis, Libyans, Syrians, Congolese, Iranians, Pakistanis, Venezuelans and co, killed by forces aligned to NATO, yet none of the western perpetrators of these crimes is before the ICC for any charges. It is always the citizens/rulers of the developing world ..

What is Nigeria still doing as a member?

KaLuCh:
LOOOL, now that's how you spot leaders who want power in perpetuity. Withdraw from ICC, refuse to ever hand over to a civilian government, until revolution and then we blame the West.

Africans.

owobokiri:
This same court that used a French judge to rule that Bakassi Peninsula belongs to Cameroon instead of Nigeria, thereby handing over an area inhabited by Nigerians that is extremely rich in hydrocarbons to a former French colony, only for French Oil Majors to start oil explorations in this area immediately after...

A perfect tool in the hands of neo colonialists. Why are Nigerians not pressuring their government to follow suit and renounce this highly compromised court? Millions of Iraqis, Afghanistanis, Libyans, Syrians, Congolese, Iranians, Pakistanis, Venezuelans and co, killed by forces aligned to NATO, yet none of the western perpetrators of these crimes is before the ICC for any charges. It is always the citizens/rulers of the developing world ..

What is Nigeria still doing as a member?

SmartPolician:
Africa has the worst leaders in this world. Just imagine what Paul Biya is doing in Cameroon. The citizens of those 3 countries should take to the streets in protests that they be returned to the ICC.

African leaders should be conscious that they will be punished for their evil deeds. If not, those people are capable of selling off an entire country.