Pan – Africanism: The Dilemma of Africa and International Criminal Court - ICC

In 1966 a day after he was overthrown by Ghana’s generals, Kwame Nkrumah sent a telegram from Beijing to his former secretary, Erica Powell, in London, saying “Take heart. I am well and determined.”You know how happy I am in such times and occasions; He remained confident that he would soon return to Ghana, blaming his downfall on the machinations of imperialism. “Don’t forget that world imperialism and neo-colonialism hates my guts and all I stand for. They know I am in the way.”This was the utterance of

Press Conference Chairperson during the AUC summit
27th of May 2013 Photo/AU Website

the third icon who spearheaded the Pan-African movement. He had the urge to unite all Africans within the sphere of Economic, Political and Social-cultural variable with the aim of a united Africa. Was his intention pure? Is a united Africa a world enemy to imperialism and neo-colonialism? These are some of the questions that linger my mind as I follow keenly through the 50^th Anniversary of the African Union summit with the rhetoric’s of Pan-Africanism from all state parties. So many crimes, so many atrocities, so many killings, so many cases of violation of rights have occurred in the past fifty years. How do we redress them?Will prosecution be a solution? Will Pan-Africanism be the twenty first century problem solution? These are some of the ideals that have pricked my ego to date. Therefore I ask. Is the International Criminal Court (ICC) a new threat towards reviving Pan - Africanism?

The mantle of Pan-Africanism movement was founded around 1900, to secure equal rights, self-government, independence, and unity for the African people. It is based on the belief that unity is vital to economic, social and political takeoff for the developing African states. Never again should anybody be killed because of divergent political opinions. Never again should public led and other resources be privileged by the ruling class. These were some of the issues that the movement spearheaded, but is this the case? How did we end up again so stormily raising the cry of Pan-Africanism? Is it for the greater good or did we have a contra ‘agendum’?

Kenya failed in its previous efforts to have Africa government’s withdraw from the ICC after the move was rejected by the African Union. Since then, lobbying and counter-deals on diplomatic alignments have been featured within the top Kenyan diplomats with the view of salvaging “our people” from prosecution by the ICC. This is the cry for a new Africa to unite against the threat of the new western “project”; to launch their ideologies to the African state parties through the ICC. Those pushing for the common African Union position were banking on the mantra that the ICC has politicised the Kenyan cases and that the country has jurisdictions over the two cases on account of the reformed judiciary. The good news on the Kenyan citizenry is that these cases have made the newly elected president Uhuru Kenyatta as the man who “calls the shots” amongst the African states in response to the resolution that was passed with an overwhelmed support from State parties who lobbied against the “western court”. Is this the new foreign policy framework for Kenya? Is Uhuru Kenyatta the new kingmaker in Africans’ foreign policy or the ‘new kid on the block’ considering the echoes of the Africa leaders during the Africa Union Summit? Furthermore during the swearing in ceremony for Uhuru Kenyatta one would think that a "new kind of Bob Marley" revolution has been launched by African leaders. An ally of mine laughed facetiously that president Omar al-Bashir did not have to attend the inauguration that he had already emailed Yoweri Museveni his fair share of the speech, but this is a topic for another day. I recall vividly when Malawian president Joyce Banda stating from the yesteryears forthcoming African Union summit that she will initiate arrest and forward president Omar al-Bashir of Sudan to the ICC  if he steps foot in Malawi to attend the African Union summit. Since then Malawi has been sidelined by the state parties as a pariah to the extent that a transfer of the African Union headquarters from Malawi to Ethiopia was initiated by a unanimous resolution. Is this the new kind of dilemma that ICC is creating within the African Union state parties ?

International Crriminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda
during a press conference Photo/AP

Lastly, whereas all state parties acknowledge the above political tête-à-tête judicial quandaries. African states have been keenly restructuring their trade partners with the aim of trading with the Eastern blocs or rather softening trade policies towards the East. Notwithstanding the current headquarters offices of the African Union at Addis Ababa – Ethiopia was fully constructed and funded by China a partner also to the BRICS (Brazil ,Russia, India, China and South Africa) State parties. These facts have contributed to calls from all quarters “whispers” that the new emerging trade block referred to as the BRICS is molesting African states to join them as trade partners. A paradigm shift is on the rise considering a change of foreign policy  from the western blocs by limiting funds to African States which have questionable human rights track records. On the other hand, BRICS have realized this ideological gap and the existence of ICC plight which they are now banking on to woo African states to join them. These colligate was attributed to the extent that Brazil president Dilma Rousseff openly declared that they will scrap or restructure debt amounting to nine hundred billion dollars accrued by the fifteen or so African States. Is the question of ICC a nexus that the BRICS have realized to capitalize to the extent of chipping in incentives? Will we see a future merger from the African blocs such as the East Africa Community, ECOWAS and SADC inter alia considering the ‘big threat’ on their table? These realism reminds me of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni when he jokily stated “If you have tight teeth, you can chew meat properly, if your teeth are scattered throughout your gums you cannot chew meat properly” in reference to a United African regional State blocs or preferably the call for a united African Union. What will the ICC actuate considering they do not have a standing army to initiate any arrest? Will the arrest warrants be nugatory considering the “political dilemmas” and coup by African states? Is the ICC a new dilemma for a call of a United African Union? Let’s wait and see whether the newly passed African Union resolution will bond pressure to the United Nations Security Council to the point of deferral, referral or terminating the current Kenya cases at the ICC. Only time will tell...........

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By Ombado Obado