S. African court slaps down bid to leave ICC

Yahoo – AFP, Susan NJANJI, February 22, 2017

The International Criminal Court has been rocked by threats of withdrawal in
recent months, with complaints focusing on its alleged bias against Africa
(AFP Photo/Martijn Beekman)

Johannesburg (AFP) - A South African court on Wednesday ordered the government to withdraw its "unconstitutional" bid to pull out of the International Criminal Court, in a boost to the embattled Hague-based institution.

The decision was a blow to President Jacob Zuma but a welcome piece of good news for the ICC, which has been rocked by threats of withdrawal amid complaints of an alleged bias against Africa.

South Africa announced it had lodged its decision to pull out with the United Nations in October, following a dispute over Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir visiting the country in 2015.

South African authorities refused to detain Bashir despite him being the subject of an ICC arrest warrant over alleged war crimes, saying he had immunity as a head of state.

"The cabinet decision to deliver the notice of withdrawal... without prior parliamentary approval is unconstitutional and invalid," said judge Phineas Mojapelo in the North Gauteng High Court.

The president and ministers were "ordered forthwith to revoke the notice of withdrawal".

Justice ministry spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga said the government would "reflect on the reasons for the judgement and decide whether to appeal or not".

The opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party, which was one of the groups that brought the court case, welcomed the ruling.

"The withdrawal by the South African government from the ICC was irrational," DA lawmaker James Selfe told AFP.

"We would like South Africa to stay in the ICC because we believe that it is consistent with our constitution and with the legacy of Nelson Mandela.

"The government should go back to the drawing board and reconsider the thing afresh in light of this judgement."

- ICC under threat? -

After the election of President Adama Barrow, The Gambia's new government in February asked the UN to halt its process of withdrawal from the ICC.

Burundi has registered to leave, while Kenya is considering the move.

Currently nine out of the ICC's 10 investigations concern African countries, the other being Georgia.

However experts point out that many of the current investigations -- in the Central African Republic, Uganda, Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo -- were referred to the ICC by the governments of those states.

Bashir has evaded arrest since his ICC indictment in 2009 for alleged war crimes in Sudan's Darfur conflict in which 300,000 people were killed and two million forced to flee their homes.

South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal accused the government of "disgraceful conduct" over Bashir's visit and ruled that the failure to arrest the Sudanese leader was unlawful.

The ICC was set up in 2002 in The Hague as a court of last resort to try the world's worst crimes where national courts are unable or unwilling to act.

The court is unable to carry out investigations in countries which have not ratified its founding Rome Statute, unless the United Nations refers a case for investigation.

Cameroonian kid beats internet ban to win coding competition

A 17-year-old Cameroonian has won Google's annual coding award, despite the partial shutdown of internet in his country. Nji Collins Gbah is the first African to win the competition.

Deutsche Welle, 15 February 2017

Young Africans sitting in front of computers (AFP/Getty Images)

The population of the English-speaking North West and South West regions of Cameroon are elated after teenager Nji Collins Gbah became the first African winner in Google's annual coding competition.

The 17-year-old beat all odds, including the internet blackout imposed by the government, to emerge the winner. The Cameroonian government cut off the internet in the English-speaking regions four weeks ago, saying this was necessary to quell unrest and to stop people from using social media to spread what the government calls "anti-state messages."

Protests began in October last year, targeting the alleged marginalization of English speakers by Cameroon's francophone majority. Since then, at least six protestors have been shot dead and hundreds have been arrested.

Undeterred by all this, Gbah traveled to a neighboring town to apply for the global award.

Locals have been thronging the family's home in Bamenda to celebrate the young hero whose win came at a difficult time for  Cameroonians in the South and Northwest regions.

This is an English-speaking part of the country where there are complaints about alleged discrimination and what people see as the francophone establishment's failure to respect the status of English as an official language of Cameroon.

Computer or chores?

Apart from getting round the internet blackout, Gbah also had to borrow his father's computer.

" He used to take my computer and I was not very happy with it because I was feeling that he was only spending time without doing house chores.” Nji Patrick said.

" So at times I used to seize my computer and lock it in the house and I told him not to use it any more because I was believing that he was just spending time on that computer for nothing," Gbah's father told DW.

Gbah went ahead to register for the competition. He had to travel to a French-speaking zone in Mbouda where he could get an internet connection to complete the Google competition tasks.

"They told us to know some basic things in computer science and some basics in computer science programming and how to use certain software. So you basically just need to create an account or use your Google account if you have one,” Gbah explained.

Google's coding competition is now
in its 14th year

After his initial skepticism. his father admitted that his son is now a role model for many youths after beating all odds to win  the Google coding competition.

"I was very very surprised. I blamed myself for being so hard on him but now I am very very happy," Nji Patrick said.

Victory is an inspiration

For many young people in Cameroon, like Atteh Francis, the victory shows how much they are losing due to the internet ban in their region.

"This young man had that inspiration to go to Bafoussam, but you don't know how many of them are there who could have been on the podium but who do not have the chance because of the absence of the internet, and it is a big shame because I don't know how I can live for a day without the internet," Francis said.

For the young winner, his victory is an inspiration to find solutions to problems like the current internet ban in his area.

"I would like to study computer science at university. The main thing is to focus exactly on what you want to do. Once you have a goal and you see that you are going to get benefits at the end, or you are going to learn something new from it, then you should totally go with it," Gbah said.

Meanwhile, the gvernment says the ban will continue.

"Social networks provide lots of opportunities. You can get early warning signals in cases of disasters, but we have noticed that many people use it for unhealthy purposes," ​Cameroon's Minister of Post and Telecommunication Libom Li Likeng  said.

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"You Don’t Know How the Frog Jumps"–  Jan11, 2011 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“…  Last week, I gave you a message about the potentials of 2011. And there were those in this room who attended. I'm going to repeat something I said there, for you need to hear it and it has to do with politics. It would seem intuitive to every single Human Being in the room that in order to accomplish what you do as Americans in Congress, you must have at least two parties. For that is the way it has always been - the red and the blue.

What if I told you that there will come a time when there will be no parties? You might then say, "Well, that's impossible, Kryon, because you're not Human and you don't know how funding works." You might say, "It has to be a party that creates the power to raise money for the ones who cannot, and then the funding is spread around and this is the way we work. If you didn't have parties, you'd have no funding. Nobody could advertise, and no one could get elected."

Oh, really?

Are you aware right now, that you have a president who was elected on the Internet? He figured it out. When everybody can talk to everyone, you have plenty of funding. A few dollars here, a few dollars there. You talk to millions at the same time, they talk to millions at the same time. It's a new paradigm of communication. The young people know all about it, and you can't stop it. Watch for more from this new paradigm.

It is worldwide communication, one person at a time. It doesn't matter how many laws you pass, and it doesn't matter what you decide about who is in charge of it, you can't stop it. It's out of the bag now, and the communities of the young are going to be communicating. This is how the politicians are going to be communicating to you, literally coming into your home in a holographic form perhaps, explaining their position one by one, without a party. Then you will elect them to your Congress without a party and they will sit in the chairs without a division and there will be no such thing as the "other side of the aisle."

And that, Human Being, is called unity and there is a paradigm that you cannot even imagine. And it's in the works. And then you'll have a Congress that works together and gets things done without the current duality.  ….”

Africa - "The End of History"- Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

"..  Let me tell you where else it's happening that you are unaware - that which is the beginning of the unity of the African states. Soon the continent will have what they never had before, and when that continent is healed and there is no AIDS and no major disease, they're going to want what you have. They're going to want houses and schools and an economy that works without corruption. They will be done with small-minded leaders who kill their populations for power in what has been called for generations "The History of Africa." Soon it will be the end of history in Africa, and a new continent will emerge.

Be aware that the strength may not come from the expected areas, for new leadership is brewing. There is so much land there and the population is so ready there, it will be one of the strongest economies on the planet within two generations plus 20 years. And it's going to happen because of a unifying idea put together by a few. These are the potentials of the planet, and the end of history as you know it.

In approximately 70 years, there will be a black man who leads this African continent into affluence and peace. He won't be a president, but rather a planner and a revolutionary economic thinker. He, and a strong woman with him, will implement the plan continent-wide. They will unite. This is the potential and this is the plan. Africa will arise out the ashes of centuries of disease and despair and create a viable economic force with workers who can create good products for the day. You think China is economically strong? China must do what it does, hobbled by the secrecy and bias of the old ways of its own history. As large as it is, it will have to eventually compete with Africa, a land of free thinkers and fast change. China will have a major competitor, one that doesn't have any cultural barriers to the advancement of the free Human spirit. …." 

Netherlands must prosecute dirty diesel exporters: report

DutchNews, February 7, 2017     

Photo: Depositphotos.com

The Netherlands and Belgium could prosecute dirty diesel exporters Trafigura and Vitol for contravening international agreements, environmental law experts have told Trouw. 

The diesel, which is blended with sulphur and benzene in the ports of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp, is commonly sold to African countries by European oil companies who are taking advantages of the weak fuel standards in those countries, the experts say. 

Swiss-based commodity traders Trafigura and Vitol are responsible for 50% of dirty diesel exports. 

There are no EU rules banning such exports, but according to the Centre for International Environmental Law (Ciel), the practice contravenes the 2005 Basel Convention which says that the export of the fuel is illegal if countries themselves prohibit the import of dangerous waste. 

Ciel says this the case since most African countries have signed the Bamako agreement (1991) which declares such imports illegal. 

‘Therefore the export from Belgium and the Netherlands of fuel with a high sulphur content is in contravention of the Basel Convention,’ Trouw quotes the report as saying. 

Ciel’s lawyers say the export of dirty diesel is also in breach of human rights because the Netherlands and Belgium both signed up to a UN agreement which obliges them to respect people’s right to health. 

Sulphur 

Dirty diesel can contain up to two hundred times the amount of sulphur allowed in Europe. 

Milieudefensie spokesman Bram van Liere, said he expects that minister Lilianne Ploumen, who called the practice ‘scandalous’, will now prosecute the two oil companies ‘with the tools we have given her’. 

The Ciel report, which was commissioned by Swiss NGO Public Eye and Dutch environmental group Milieudefensie, was sent to parliament on Monday. 

Will AU members really withdraw from the ICC?

African Union (AU) leaders have backed a strategy for a collective withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC). But it seems that many countries have reservations and that very little will change for now.

Deutsche Welle, 1 February 2017

The news of the adopted AU strategy to withdraw from the Hague based court, came as more of a footnote of the AU summit. There were no big announcements but an AU official who asked not to be identified told the Reuters new agency that "the leaders of AU member states endorsed the strategy of collective withdrawal, with reservations."

At a closer look, the strategy is however more of a recommendation than an actual decision to withdraw from the ICC and a treaty which established the court known as the Rome Statute. The decision is not binding and as country representatives who are in support of the ICC noted, the decision to leave the ICC is up to each individual country.

According to DW's reporter in Addis Ababa, Coletta Wanjohi, several countries which include Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania had reservations about the paper.  Other countries asked for more time to consider the withdrawal strategy.

No concrete steps to withdraw

The call by countries like Kenya, Burundi and South Africa to withdraw from the ICC is, however, not new. The "withdrawal strategy" was initially tabled by Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta a year ago. Until 2014, Kenyatta and his vice president William Ruto were themselves accused of instigating war crimes during the 2007/2008 post-election violence in Kenya. The proposed strategy was then discussed by AU foreign ministers, who wanted to bring their grievances to the UN Security Council. Many African countries are of the opinion that the court is unfairly targeting them.

Cape Verde is one of the countries which 

wants to remain in the Rome Statute

"What happened in Addis Ababa is unprecedented" said Allan Ngari an expert on international crime with the Intstitute for Security Studies in Pretoria. "That a regional body would adopt a decision to withdraw from an international instrument." Ngari however noted that the AU itself is not party to the Rome Statute and it remains up to individual states to decide whether they want to remain within the statute or leave it.

Ngari moreover explained that even the countries which have said that they will leave the ICC and the Rome Statute have so far failed to take any concrete measures to do so. "Kenya introduced a bill in its national parliament to repeal that act that domesticated the Rome Statute," Ngari explained.  The bill, he explained, however, was not passed and expired in January 2017.

Similarly South Africa has proposed several amendments to the Rome Statute. The country was heavily criticized for its failure to cooperate with the court and detain Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir during his visit South Africa in 2015. "If you want to amend the Rome Statute, you must be a party to the Rome Statute," explained Ngari. There are processes to change the treaty from the inside and this is what South Africa and other AU members are doing.

Last year, The Gambia also threatened to leave the ICC. Under the new President Adama Barrow, the country might however review this decision.

Strengthening African justice systems

Whether African countries will follow the recommendations of the strategy paper or not, a handful are still adamant that they will withdraw if nothing changes. "We believe that it needs to improve its working methods. It has been in place for 12 years and it has had three or four convictions," argued Sam Kutesa, Uganda's foreign affairs minister. "It spends $ 180 million (167 million euros) per annum. This is totally incompetent," he added.

Sudan's Secretary of Economics and Development, Hussain Karshaoum, also argued that instead of sticking with the ICC, African countries should instead strengthen their own justice systems. "You have to strengthen the African Courtof Justice and to call for every African state to ratify it as a last resort. The second thing is to strengthen the judicial system at the domestic level," he said.

The outgoing vice chairperson of the AU Commission Erastus Mwencha said what African countries really want is a level playing field. "What happens at the ICC should apply throughout the world and African leaders have said we are ready to sit down and see how we can reform it."

The foreign affairs ministers had planned to discuss a possible reform of the ICC and amendments to the Rome Statute with the UN Security Council. The ministers however said that officials who were sent to the meeting were not senior enough to discuss the proposed changes.