Gambia's Fatou Bensouda to be new ICC chief prosecutor

BBC News, 1 December 2011 

Fatou Bensouda is currently the deputy
chief prosecutor at the ICC

Fatou Bensouda is set to be named the new International Criminal Court chief prosecutor, diplomats say.

The 50-year-old lawyer from The Gambia serves as the deputy to Luis Moreno-Ocampo, whose term ends next year.

She previously worked as a legal adviser at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Tanzania.

The ICC's cases are currently all in Africa, and some of the continent's leaders have accused it of only pursuing Africans.

A successor to Luis Moreno-Ocampo will be formally elected by the Assembly of States Parties - the body representing the 119 countries that support the tribunal - at its annual meeting in New York on 12 December.

However, the president of the ASP, Liechtenstein's UN ambassador Christian Wenaweser, says she is now the only candidate.

It had been agreed that Mr Ocampo's successor should be an African and the only other candidate, Tanzania's Mohamed Chande Othman, is said to have withdrawn.

"I will recommend to the [12 December] meeting that, based on my consultations, we go forward with a single candidate, Fatou Bensouda," Mr Wenaweser told Reuters news agency by telephone.

The ICC, based in The Hague, is the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal and began operating in 2002.

Fatou Bensouda told the AFP news agency that she was working for the victims of Africa. "That's where I get my inspiration and my pride," she said.