Kevin Kelley
6 July 2009
Nairobi — An Africa-centred campaign to discredit the International Criminal Court (ICC) could have repercussions for a potential move to bring before the court the cases of Kenyans accused of orchestrating the 2008 post-election violence.
The strongest critics of the ICC argue that it is biased against Africa. Led by Libya, the critics depict the court as a tool of Western powers intent on exercising neo-colonial control over African states.
The ICC's indictment of Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir for war crimes in Darfur has been depicted as an egregious example of politically motivated persecution on the part of the Hague-based court.
President al-Bashir's case was referred to the ICC by the United Nations Security Council, even though -- as critics point out -- the court's jurisdiction is not recognised by three of the council's five permanent members: China, Russia and the United States.
The charges against al-Bashir are disputed by some African leaders who contend that the conflict in Darfur does not warrant the unprecedented arrest warrant issued against a sitting head of state.
Rodolphe Adada, head of the joint African Union-United Nations mission in Darfur, told the Security Council in April that the death toll in Darfur now amounts to no more than 150 a month -- compared to ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo's contention that 5,000 people were dying each month from conflict-related causes in Darfur.
An official in the Barack Obama administration has also stoked doubts as to whether mass killings are currently occurring in Darfur.
J. Scott Gration, President Obama's special envoy to Sudan, said last month that al-Bashir's government is no longer engaging in a co-ordinated campaign of slaughter in Darfur.
A State Department official subsequently sought to clarify the Obama administration's view, saying, "We continue to characterise the circumstances in Darfur as genocide."
Critics of the court, including a few human rights advocates in the West, have singled out Moreno-Ocampo's performance.
And that tactic may be proving at least partly successful.
A Washington Post report last week on the perception of the ICC in Africa noted, "Today, Moreno-Ocampo appears to be the one on trial, with even some of his early supporters questioning his prosecutorial strategy, his use of facts and his personal conduct."
These challenges to the world's first permanent tribunal on genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity has prompted a concerted counter-attack by ICC defenders.
Writing last week in The New York Times, former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan defended the ICC against the claim that it is an instrument in a Western plot against Africa. Annan characterised that view as an "outcry against justice" that "demeans the yearning for human dignity that resides in every African heart."
The attempt by a few African Union member-states to undercut the court's legitimacy "represents a step backward in the battle against impunity," Annan added.
Africans and people everywhere have supported creation of "a court to bring to justice anyone in a government hierarchy or military chain of command who was responsible" for atrocities, he wrote. "That principle would be applied without exception, whether to the lowliest soldier or the loftiest ruler."
Annan's defence of the ICC is particularly notable because of his insistence on ensuring that charges be brought against Kenyans said to have organised the killings that followed the disputed 2007 presidential election.
Annan has threatened to refer the names of accused ringleaders to the ICC in August unless Kenya sets up its own tribunal to hear their cases.
Annan's warning to Kenya will probably not be weakened as a result of the campaign to discredit the ICC, says William Pace, director of the Coalition for the ICC. He predicts that moves within the African Union to undermine the court will not succeed.
Moreno-Ocampo himself, also writing last week in The New York Times, cited Kenya as an indicator of the court's effectiveness.
He argued that the possibility of charging Kenyans at the Hague has spurred "discussions on accountability for crimes committed during the last elections. Impunity is no longer an option."
Three African Nobel Prize laureates -- Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka, South African peace advocate Desmond Tutu and Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai -- have also defended the ICC.
"We support the role of the International Criminal Court in bringing justice and accountability for the peoples of Sudan," the three jointly declared last month.
Pace points out that 30 black African countries have ratified the treaty that authorises the court.
These countries, including Kenya, represent the largest regional bloc among the 109 nations that have formally recognised the ICC, Price adds.
The Libyan-led campaign against the court has been joined by Senegal, Djibouti and the Comoros islands as well as by Sudan. Richard Dicker, an analyst with Human Rights Watch, refers to their call for repudiation of the court as "an effort by a handful of countries to foist on others their regressive view that there should be no accountability for mass slaughter of civilians."
Annan pointed out in his Times commentary that Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic each sought ICC intervention on the grounds that justice for atrocities could not be delivered by the countries themselves.
A total of 13 individuals from those countries, as well as from Sudan, have so far been charged by the ICC.
Pace argues that the indictment of Sudan's leader for war crimes is not really what's troubling the court's African critics. "Many leaders aren't worried about al-Bashir," Pace suggests. "They're worried about themselves."
But Pace nonetheless views the Libyan-led assault on the ICC as the most serious threat to the court since the United States, under President George W. Bush, refused to endorse the treaty establishing the ICC.
President Obama has taken a less hostile stance toward the court, Pace notes.
The coalition leader adds, however, "I don't think there is any likelihood" that the US will move to ratify the ICC treaty in the foreseeable future.
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* 16 European Nations . Met And Plotted On How They Would Rob Africa Of Its Riches.
* They met during two(2) Periods of time in two(2) places
* The General Act Of Berlin Conference (Nov, 1884 to February, 1885)
* Brussels Belgium to finalize SECRET agreements ( Nov, 1889 to July 1890)
* The Book “King Leopold’s Ghost (1998) by Adam Hochschild documents some of This information.
The following Nations (Households) - Planned how they would divide among themselves our AFRICAN Riches.
1) Austria-Hungary - Francis Joseph I Charles - August 18, 1830 -
2) Belgium - King Leopold II – April 9, 1835
3) Denmark - Frederik VIII -June 3, 1843
4) France - Marie François Sadi Carnot – August 11, 1837 -
5) Germany - Wilhelm II -– January 27, 1859
6) Great Britain - Queen Victoria (Hanover) – May 24, 1819 – British Ruler – 2nd
7) Holland –William III – February 19, 1817
8) Italy - Umberto I - March 14, 1844 -
9) Norway - Oscar II [Oscar Frederik] – January 21, 1829 (Also Sweden)
10) Portugal - Carlos I – September 28, 1863
11) Russia - Alexander III Alexandrovich – March 10, 1845
12) Spain - Alfonso XIII – May 17, 1886
13) Sweden - Oscar II – January 21, 1829 (Also Norway)
14) Turkey - Abdülhamid II, - September 2 or September 22 - 1842 -
15) United States - Benjamin Harrison – August 20, 1833 -
16) Persia (Iran) - Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar – July 16, 1831 –
For centuries Black Africans have been exploited and exploited in the name of Islam. Then with the coming of the Portueses (so-called Christians) to Ghana around the 1440s , the so-called Christians started their exploitation.
FRITZ SPRINGMEIER A Bold Christian Truthseeker The Top 13 Illuminati Bloodlines [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k73Q2_f4vKU ]
We Black Africans are puzzling. We have a bounty of riches around us, yet we persist in allowing outsiders to steal them; while we fight each other over trivial matters.
Just in case you're wondering, here's some Black Africans who have done wondrous things to change the way we live in the world.
For example : Garrett-Augustus Morgan invented the Traffic Signal to CURB (no pun intended) TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS !!!
* Buridge & Marshman - TYPEWRITER
* George Carruthers - X-RAY MACHINE
* George Washington Carver - PEANUT BUTTER - PAINTS – PAINT STAINS – ETC
* W.A. Dietz - SHOE
* Charles R. Drew - BLOOD PLASMA STORAGE SYSTEM
* Michael Harney - LANTERN
* Augustus Jackson - ICE CREAM
* H.A. Jackson - KITCHEN TABLE
* Isaac R. Johnson - BICYCLE FRAME
* John A. Johnson - WRENCH
* Frederick M. Jones - DEFROSTER - REFRIGERATION CONTROLS – AIR CONDITIONER
* Jones & Long - BOTTLE CAPS
* Lewis Latimer & Nichols - ELECTIC LAMP
* John L. Love - PENCIL SHARPENER
* Tony J. Marshall - FIRE EXTINGUISHER
* Alexander Miles - ELEVATOR
* W.A. Martin - LOCK
* Garrett A. Morgan - GAS MASK - Traffic Signal
* Lydia Newman - HAIR BRUSH - Nov 15, 1898
* W.B. Purvis - FOUNTAIN PEN
* L.P. Ray - DUST PAN
* W.H. Richardson - BABY BUGGY
* G.T. Sampson - CLOTHES DRYER
* .W. Smith - LAWN SPRINKLER
* J. Standard - REFRIGERATOR
* T.W. Stewart - MOP
* Maxine Snowden - RAIN HAT - 1983
* Paul E. Williams - HELICOPTER
* Granville T. Woods - Roller Coaster
* Granville T. Woods - Telegraph Transmission Devices - Dec 2, 1884 Patents # - 308, 816 (7)
Thanks to The Black Inventors Museum P.O. Box 76128 Los Angeles , Calif. (90076) Phone (310) 859-4602)
Director : Ghanaian Mr. Hamza Salifa
Contributor of Information : SEESTAH Imahkus Nzinga Okofo
[This inspiring poem was featuring in the movie “Coach Carter ”]
Our Deepest Fear Is Not That We Are Inadequate,
Our Deepest Fear Is That We Are Powerful Beyond Measure.
It Is Our Light , Not Our Darkness That Most Frightens Us.
We Ask Ourselves, Who Am I To Be Brilliant, Gorgeous, Talented, And Fabulous ?
Actually Who Are We Not To Be ? You Are A Child Of God.
Your Playing Small Doesn’t Serve The World.
There Is Nothing Enlightened About Shrinking So That Other People Won’t Feel Insecure Around You.
We Are All Meant To Shine, As Children Do.
We Were Born To Make Manifest The Glory Of God That Is Within Us.
It’s Not Just In Some Of Us; It’s In Everyone.
And When We Let Our Own Light Shine We Unconsciously Give Other People Permission To Do The Same.
And As We Are Liberated From Our Own Fear, Our Presence Automatically Liberates Others
- Marianne Williamson -
(Nkosi Sikeleli Africa )
God bless Africa May her glory be lifted high Hear our petitions .
God bless us, Your children God we ask You to protect our nation Intervene and end all conflicts Protect us, protect our nation, our nation.
From the blue of our heaven, From the depths of our sea, Over our eternal mountain ranges, Where the cliffs give answer.
Sounds the call to come together, And united we shall stand, Let us live and strive for freedom, In South Africa our land.
[Enoch Mankayi Sontonga]
WAKE UP !!! STAY UP !!!
[http://www.infowars.com/infowars.asx] / [gcnlive.com] / [http://alexjonesringtones.net/] Life Is A Game. Have Fun . Luke 18:17 - Isaiah 11:6
In his piece entitled “ White Collar War Crimes, Black African Fall Guys,”
investigative journalist Keith Snow writes:
First note that the ICC can now be viewed as a tool of hegemonic U.S. foreign policy,
where the weapons deployed by the U.S. and its allies include the accusations of, and
indictments for, human rights violations, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
To understand this, we can ask WHY NO WHITE MAN HAS YET BEEN CHARGED
with these or other offenses at the ICC (International Criminal Court) which now holds
five black African warlords and seeks to incarcerate and bring to trial another black man,
also an Arab, Omar Bashir.
Why hasn’t George W. Bush been indicted ? Or what about Donald Rumsfeld ?
Dick Cheney? Henry Kissinger? Ehud Olmert? Tony Blair?
The sad fact is that the International Criminal Court has become terribly
politicized, as has the entire international justice apparatus.
The ICC has issued indictments, for the first time in history, against a sitting head of
state. Meanwhile, according to Snow, an Israeli weapons dealer, also a reputed Mossad
operative, is revealed to be shipping weapons into Sudan with Pentagon support.
And Belgium changed its law rather than prosecute Ariel Sharon for war crimes.
The double standard cries out to us.
One country in the West, however, increasingly stands out as a place where
justice can be found?and that is Spain. With its landmark indictment of
Pinochet and its current consideration of Israeli war crimes in Lebanon and
U.S. torture in Guantanamo, we increasingly look to the Spanish Courts with
hope. It was the Spanish courts that returned indictments against Rwandan
soldiers for genocide even as the world coddles U.S. proxy Rwanda and its
leader, Paul Kagame.
[allthingscynthiamckinney.com]
BY PEACE SHALL Many Be deceived (Daniel 8:25) .
DOES THE TERM PEACEKEEPERS ring a Bell ?
Ask the people in Rwanda (who survived that Peace-keeping) about the UN PEACEKEEPERS .
President Obama’s UNITED NATIONS AMBASSADOR SUSAN RICE cut her teeth on the RWANDA MASSACRE….OOOPs!!! She said.
(Here’s a Search Link To Many Witnesses To THE NEW U.N. RICE MONSTER)
[http://ixquick.com/do/metasearch.pl?query=Susan+Rice+Rwanda&cat=web&pl=ff& language=english]
OBAMA DECEPTIONS
#1
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrpRocaEfQE]
#2 Here is evidence of Point 2 of the Georgia Guidestones on Reproduction .
Don't be deceived :
[http://www.infowars.com/?p=7259]
Here are search result links to what the Georgia Guidestones are
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Guidestones ]
#3
BY PEACE SHALL Many Be deceived (Daniel 8:25) .
DOES THE TERM PEACEKEEPERS ring a Bell ?
Ask the people in Rwanda (who survived that Peace-keeping) about the
United Nations PEACEKEEPERS .
President Obama’s UNITED NATIONS AMBASSADOR SUSAN RICE cut her teeth on
the RWANDA MASSACRE…. OOOPs!!! She said.
(Here’s a Search Link To Many Witnesses To THE NEW U.N. RICE MONSTER)
[http://ixquick.com/do/metasearch.pl?query=Susan+Rice+Rwanda&cat=web&pl=ff& language=english]
[This inspiring poem was featuring in the movie “Coach Carter ”]
Our Deepest Fear Is Not That We Are Inadequate, Our Deepest Fear Is That We Are Powerful Beyond Measure. It Is Our Light , Not Our Darkness That Most Frightens Us.
We Ask Ourselves, Who Am I To Be Brilliant, Gorgeous, Talented, And Fabulous ?
Actually Who Are We Not To Be ? You Are A Child Of God.
Your Playing Small Doesn’t Serve The World.
There Is Nothing Enlightened About Shrinking So That Other People Won’t Feel Insecure Around You.
We Are All Meant To Shine, As Children Do.
We Were Born To Make Manifest The Glory Of God That Is Within Us.
It’s Not Just In Some Of Us; It’s In Everyone.
And When We Let Our Own Light Shine We Unconsciously Give Other People Permission To Do The Same.
And As We Are Liberated From Our Own Fear, Our Presence Automatically Liberates Others
- Marianne Williamson -
[NOTE – BEING AFRAID AND REFUSING TO GET INVOLVED WON’T STOP US FROM DYING. BUT BEING AFRAID CAN PREVENT US FROM LIVING]
(Nkosi Sikeleli Africa )
God bless Africa May her glory be lifted high Hear our petitions .
God bless us, Your children God we ask You to protect our nation Intervene and end all conflicts Protect us, protect our nation, our nation.
From the blue of our heaven, From the depths of our sea, Over our eternal mountain ranges, Where the cliffs give answer.
Sounds the call to come together, And united we shall stand, Let us live and strive for freedom, In South Africa our land.
[Enoch Mankayi Sontonga]
WAKE UP !!! STAY UP !!!
[http://www.infowars.com/infowars.asx] / [gcnlive.com] / [http://alexjonesringtones.net/] Life Is A Game. Have Fun . Luke 18:17 - Isaiah 11:6