Reform the ICC from within, pleads Botswana’s Foreign Minister Venson-Moitoi
African states that are unhappy with the International Criminal Court (ICC) should work to reform it from within rather than pulling out, says Botswana’s Foreign Minister Pelomoni Venson-Moitoi, a candidate to be next African Union (AU) chief. With the AU increasingly divided over the ICC, SA’s government announced last week it planned to quit, but Venson-Moitoi said she believed an African war crimes court could be beefed up to work alongside its Hague-based counterpart. Although Pretoria argued that the ICC’s Rome statutes were at odds with its laws granting leaders diplomatic immunity, some other African countries say the ICC is an instrument of colonial justice targeting Africa unfairly. "I don’t see why we should be pulling out," said Venson-Moitoi. "The good thing is that a few more members now, within the AU, agree that pulling out is not the solution. We should be working towards fixing," she said in an interview, without elaborating. After she spoke, Gambia said late on Tue...
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